Commerce Dept Report: 2019 Economy Missed Target

Reuters reports:



The U.S. economy maintained a moderate pace of growth in the fourth quarter, and again fell short of attaining the Trump administration’s coveted but elusive 3% annual growth target because of slumping business investment amid damaging trade tensions.

The Commerce Department’s snapshot of gross domestic product on Thursday will show the Federal Reserve’s three interest rate cuts in 2019 helped to keep the longest expansion in history, now in its 11th year, on track and avert a downturn.

Growth is, however, slowing as the stimulus fades from the White House and Republicans’ huge tax reductions in 2018, a package President Donald Trump had predicted would lift growth persistently above 3%. So far it has fallen short of that goal.