A report from the Commerce Department showed on Thursday the U.S. economy grew as initially estimated in the fourth quarter of 2019, an upward revision to private inventory investment was offset by a downward revision to nonresidential fixed investment.

According to the third estimate, the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a 2.1 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, as reported in advance estimate.

Economists had expected the growth rate to remain unrevised at 2.1 percent.

In the third quarter, the economy also expanded by 2.1 percent.

The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), federal government spending, exports, residential fixed investment, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by negative contributions from private inventory investment and nonresidential fixed investment. Meanwhile, imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, fell

The GDP flat q-o-q performance in the fourth quarter reflected a downturn in imports and an acceleration in government spending, offset by a larger drop in private inventory investment and a slowdown in PCE.