Growth in real, inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) slowed to an annual rate of just 1.1 percent during the final quarter of last year, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Commerce Department. Final revisions for the third quarter of 2000 pegged GDP gains at a 2.2 percent annual rate-not the 2.7 percent rate originally estimated. This second-half 2000 pace of economic expansion was quite a comedown from the 6.1 percent average annual increase in GDP that had been recorded over the previous four quarters.
On an annual average basis, 2000 GDP was 5 percent greater than during 1999-the strongest expansion for the American economy since 1984. But the final quarter trend was unsettling, representing the smallest quarterly gain recorded since the second quarter of 1995.
