U.S. GDP Revised Higher For Q4

(RTTNews) - Economic activity in the U.S. was stronger than people had previously thought in the fourth quarter, according to new government statistics released on Friday.

The U.S. Department of Commerce revealed that Gross Domestic Product, a gauge of broad economic activity, rose by an annual rate of 1.4 percent in the last three months of 2015. The figure had previously been reported to have risen by 0.7 percent.

In the third quarter, GDP had a growth rate of 2.0 percent.

Economists had been expecting an upward revision to the fourth-quarter GDP stat. However, Friday's result was stronger than was generally predicted. Economists had expected the figure to be revised up to about 1.0 percent.

An increase in the rate of consumer spending contributed to the new GDP result. Consumer spending was up 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter, according to the latest data. This compares to a 2.0 percent increase that was previously reported.