WASHINGTON – Preliminary real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property in the U.S. -- increased at an annual rate of 3.0% in the fourth quarter of 2011, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday.
The 3.0% gain, the highest since the second quarter of 2010 when it was 3.8%, followed an advance estimate of 2.8% for the fourth quarter and was above the 1.8% increase reported for the third quarter. It was also above the 2.8% median increase projected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters.
The 3.0% increase in the fourth quarter reflected gains of 1.9% in private inventory investment, 2.1% in personal consumption expenditures, 4.3% in exports, 2.8% in nonresidential fixed investment, and 11.5% in residential fixed investment. Those gains were partially offset by decreases of 6.9% in federal spending and 2.5% in state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased 3.8%.
The core price deflator rose 1.3%, compared to the advance estimate of a 1.1% increase, and the third quarter’s 2.1% gain. The final sales rose 1.1%, up from the advance estimate of a 0.8% gain, and the third quarter’s 3.2% increase.
