US GDP growth slowed to 2.6% annualized in Q4, down fro 3.4% but beat expectation of 2.5%. GDP price index rose 1.8%, beat expectation of 1.7%. The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), nonresidential fixed investment, exports, private inventory investment, and federal government spending. Those were partly offset by negative contributions from residential fixed investment, and state and local government spending.
Initial jobless claims rose 8k to 225k in the week ending February 23. Four-week moving average of initial claims dropped -7k to 229k. Continuing claims rose 79k to 1.805M in the week ended February 16. Four-week moving average of continuing claims rose 6.75k to 1.762M.
