Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 2.8 percent at an annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the advance estimates of the national income and product accounts.
In the third quarter, real GDP increased 1.8 percent. For the year 2011, real GDP increased 1.7 percent after increasing 3.0 percent in 2010.
The acceleration in real GDP in the fourth quarter of 2011 primarily reflected an upturn in inventory investment and accelerations in consumer spending and in residential fixed investment that were partly offset by a deceleration in nonresidential fixed investment, a downturn in federal government spending, an acceleration in imports, and a larger decrease in state and local government spending.
Prices of goods and services purchased by U.S. residents increased 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter after increasing 2.0 percent in the third quarter. Energy prices turned down in the fourth quarter, and food prices decelerated. Excluding food and energy, gross domestic purchases prices increased 1.0 percent after increasing 1.8 percent.
Real disposable personal income (DPI) increased 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter after decreasing 1.9 percent in the third quarter. Current-dollar DPI accelerated, and the PCE implicit price deflator used to deflate DPI decelerated. The acceleration in current-dollar DPI reflected an acceleration in personal income that was partly offset by an accelerationin personal current taxes.
The personal saving rate, personal saving as a percentage of current-dollar DPI, was 3.7 percent in the fourth quarter; in the third quarter, it was 3.9 percent.
