US bureau cuts GDP fourth quarter estimates from 5.9pc to 5.6pc

WHILE still posting the fastest growth in six years, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis has cut its estimate of the increase in American GDP in the fourth quarter from 5.9 per cent to 5.6 per cent.

Business inventories fell by US$19.7 billion in the fourth quarter. Fast growth was attributed to a slowdown in liquidation of inventories during the fourth quarter.

While in recession, businesses cut inventories $160.2 billion in the second quarter and $139.2 billion in the third quarter, reported Newark's Journal of Commerce. Inventories added only 0.69 percentage points to the 2.2 per cent growth in GDP in the third quarter.

(Source: www.schednet.com)