Infographic: US Economy Grows Steadily As Coronavirus Looms

Marking the 23nd consecutive quarter of growth, the U.S. real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019. That’s unrevised from the advance estimate published on January 30 and unchanged from 2.1 percent growth in the preceding quarter.

As the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Thursday, "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.” It was also driven by a steep decrease in goods imports, which are subtracted when calculating the GDP.

While the latest reading suggests that the U.S. economy is on steady footing, the coronavirus outbreak in and outside of China is expected to put a damper on economic growth in 2020. Earlier this week, Goldman Sachs slashed its growth forecast for the first three months of 2020 to 1.2 percent, as exports to China are likely to drop and American companies face production cuts due to supply chain disruptions.