US GDP growth slows to 0.5pc in Q4

(Sharecast News) - US economic growth slowed sharply at the end of 2025, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis' third estimate, with real GDP rising at an annualised 0.5% rate in the fourth quarter, compared to a 4.4% expansion in the third quarter. The BEA's latest estimate marked a 0.2‑percentage‑point downward revision from the prior reading, reflecting weaker investment and a even sharper decline from an advance estimate that had previously put GDP growth at 1.4%.

Growth in consumer spending, which makes up more than two‑thirds of the US economy, was revised slightly lower to a 1.9% annualised pace in the fourth quarter, down from the previously reported 2%, while final sales to private domestic purchasers, which strips out government, trade and inventories, rose at a 1.8% clip.

The average of GDP and gross domestic income, known as gross domestic output and viewed by some economists as a broader gauge of activity, increased at a 1.5% pace in Q4, compared to a 4% expansion in Q3.

Real GDP increased 2.1% for 2025 as a whole, the same as previously estimated.

By industry, private services output rose 2.3%, while government output dropped 7.8% and private goods‑producing industries contracted 1.8%. Wholesale trade, information, and health care and social assistance were the largest contributors to growth.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com