The U.S. economy grew at slower rate than initially estimated over the final three months of 2018, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Gross domestic product rose at a 2.2 percent annualized rate for the quarter, down from an initial estimate of 2.6 percent.
For the full year, inflation-adjusted GDP grew by 2.9 percent, unchanged from the previous estimate. Comparing output in the fourth quarter of 2018 to that in the fourth quarter of 2017, the economy grew 3.0 percent last year, slightly slower than the initial estimate of 3.1 percent.
“The slowdown in GDP growth, from 3.4% in the third quarter, is a straightforward story about the end of the kick from tax cuts, which was never going to last long,” Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said in a note to clients.
