The U.S. economy was still chugging along as it rounded out 2022, despite rising interest rates and widespread fears of a recession.
The country's gross domestic product (GDP) was up 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter, according to an estimate from the Commerce Department, even as some sectors slowed.
The department said the overall growth reflected higher levels of consumer spending, private inventory investment, and government spending, as well as a drop off in imports.
Manufacturers and utilities led the rise in private inventory investment, with petroleum, coal products, and chemicals seeing the biggest gains.
As for consumer spending, both services and goods fueled the uptick. Health care, housing and utilities topped services, while motor vehicles and parts topped goods.
The data marks a deceleration in real GDP from the 3.2 percent growth in the third quarter, in large part due to falling exports and a drop in nonresidential fixed investment. Specifically, the housing sector has screeched to a halt in response to higher mortgage rates.
Meanwhile, the Israeli prime minister warned Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group that if it launches its own war, Israel would “cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine.”
A U.S. homebuyer must earn just over $114,000 to afford an average-priced home, according to a report from Redfin.
Cheddar News checks in with your coast-to-coast weekend weather forecast for Friday, Oct. 20, 2023.
Canada has removed 41 of its diplomats from India as tensions rise between the two nations.
An Army private who crossed the border into North Korea in July has been charged in military court with eight offenses including desertion.
The 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards in Paris have been canceled due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
A U.S. Navy warship operating in the Middle East shot down multiple missiles near the coast of Yemen.
A 52-year-old Maryland Circuit Court judge was fatally shot Thursday night in the driveway of his own home in Hagerstown, Maryland.
An Army private who crossed the border into North Korea in July has been charged in military court with eight offenses including desertion.
Cheddar News checks in with your coast-to-coast weather forecast for Friday, Oct. 20, 2023 and the weekend.
