Fourth-quarter GDP revised down to just 0.7% growth; January core inflation was 3.1%
Economic growth was much slower than expected in the final three months
of 2025 while core inflation rose to start 2026, the Commerce Department
reported Friday. ...
The first revision of the GDP reading was a sharp step down from the
previous estimate of 1.4% and well below the Dow Jones consensus
forecast for 1.5%. It also marked a considerable slowdown from the 4.4%
gain in the prior period. For the full year, GDP posted a 2.1% increase, or one-tenth of a
percentage point lower than the previous reading. In 2024, the economy
rose at a 2.8% pace. ...
On the inflation side, readings for January were mostly in line with
estimates, though they showed price increases running well ahead of
where the Federal Reserve would like. ...
Core pce inflation has been range-bound around 3% since Dec 2023. For 2009 through 2020 it averaged half that, 1.5%.
The compound annual rate of real GDP growth since 2017 has been 2.416%, almost 34% lower than the post-war rate for 1947 through 1984 of 3.652%.
The rate for 1984 through 2017, also using today's data, was 2.675%, also higher than the rate since the Trump tax reform eight years ago.
Trump has not made America great again, any more than Reagan did.
