Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released their first "estimate" of the Q4 2012 GDP report showing that the economy unexpectedly slumped with real GDP declining at an annualized rate of 0.1% from Q3 2012.
On a year-over-year basis, real GDP increased 1.54% while the quarter-to-quarter non-annualized percent change was a decline of 0.04%.
The latest quarterly results indicate that the most notable source of weakness in the economy came from declines to fixed non-residential investment with the structures component declining 1.1% from Q3, and notable declines in govenment spending particularly national defense with a 22.2% in federal national defense spending from Q3.
Residential investment, on the other hand, worked to buoy the overall fixed investment component growing at an annualized rate of 15.3% from Q3.
Keep in mind that these results are likely very poorly estimated and are sure to be revised notably in following quarters and even years to come.
