Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to the "second" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
In the third quarter, real GDP increased 2 percent.
The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures, residential fixed investment, and federal government spending that were partly offset by negative contributions from exports, nonresidential fixed investment, state and local government spending, and private inventory investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.
The deceleration in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected a deceleration in PCE and downturns in nonresidential fixed investment, in state and local government spending, and in exports that were partly offset by a smaller decrease in private inventory investment, a downturn in imports, and an acceleration in federal government spending.
Real gross domestic purchases – purchases by U.S. residents of goods and services wherever produced – increased 1.2 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with an increase of 2.2 percent in the third.
