The world’s largest economy grew 2.6% in the last quarter of 2014, down from 5% amazing calculated for the previous three months, but in line with its potential level. For the full year, the Commerce Department points to an increase of gross domestic product (GDP) of 2.4% (0.2 percentage points above the 2013 record).
Consumption growth (4.3% against 3.2% in the previous quarter) was the main driver of the final result, since it accounts for about two-thirds of the U S economy. The increase, which establishes the maximum value in seven years, results primarily from the reduction in petrol prices, a result of oil prices fall.
The average price of fuel, remember this Friday the agency Reuters, fell about 43% since the middle of last year, freeing money for families aplicassem the purchase of other products.
At least golden side of the numbers, there is a decrease in the levels of business investment in equipment (-1.9%), which is the sharpest contraction since 2009. Analysts explain that this record reflects a reduced investment in the oil extraction sector, which is a result of the free fall of the prices of black gold.
Last year, many US companies made heavy investments in the shale-gas extraction systems called, shale gas, but in the last quarter of the year substantially reduced this effort, when the oil prices, which came to be close to $ 110 in 2014, declined and fell below 50 dollars a barrel.
Another factor that turned out to adversely affect the result was an increase in the trade deficit with the outside, which eventually withdrew 1.02 percentage points to output growth. In this case, the explanation lies in the stagnation or slowdown of other major economies of the world with which the United States has strong relationships, as is the case of the euro area as a whole, China and Japan.
Looking to the near future, Gennadiy Goldberg, TD Securities analyst in New York, told Reuters he expects “a strong domestic consumption continues to sustain economic momentum in the coming quarters, even if the investment continues to be affected by the low level of oil prices. “
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