GDP Revised Up to 3% in 4Q

Originally published on Fox Business. The U.S. economy grew a bit faster than initially thought in the fourth quarter on slightly firmer consumer and business spending, which could help to allay fears of a sharp slowdown in growth in early 2012. Gross domestic product expanded at a 3% annual rate, the quickest pace since the second quarter of 2010, the Commerce Department said in its second estimate. That was a step up from the 2.8% pace it reported in January. Economists polled by Reuters had expected fourth-quarter GDP would be unrevised at a 2.8% pace. The economy grew at a 1.8% pace in the third quarter. While the build-up in business inventories still accounted for much of rise in output in the last quarter, the revisions to GDP unveiled an improved tone for the first-quarter growth outlook. Continue reading this article here.