US real GDP likely expanded 0.5% in Q4

The Q4 real GDP of the US is expected to have grown at an annualised rate of just 0.5%, as compared with 2% in the summer and 3.9% in the spring. The slowdown is likely due to decelerations in inflation-adjusted consumer spending and fixed investment, along with renewed slowdown from international trade and slower stock-building. The real GDP for the whole of 2015 is projected to have grown by 1.8%.

Private inventories are expected to have subtracted four ticks from the headline GDP. Meanwhile, real final sales of domestic product are expected to have risen by a comparatively insignificant 0.9%, after growing 2.7% in Q3 and 3.9% in Q2. The US external accounts are expected to have deteriorated in Q4, while real sales to domestic purchasers have likely risen by 1.2%.

The GDP chain price index is expected to have risen at an annualised rate of only 0.3%, after growing 1.3% in Q3. Meanwhile, the chain price index for personal consumption expenditures is expected to have risen by 1% in Q4 and 1.3% in the whole of 2015, as compared with 2014's 1.4% growth.