US economic growth continues to slow

US economic growth slowed to an annualised rate of 2.6% in the final three months of 2018, figures show.

However, the reading was ahead of expectations for a rate of between 1.8% and 2%.

The pace of growth was below the 3.4% rate seen in the third quarter thanks to a slowdown in consumer spending.

The growth figures had originally been due to be released in January, but were delayed because of the 35-day US government shutdown.

Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said that the fourth quarter was “not a bad performance” given that the economic boost from the Trump administration’s tax cuts is now fading.

For the full year, GDP grew by 2.9% – just shy of President Donald Trump’s 3% target – compared with 2.2% in 2017.

But Mr Shepherdson said he expected that growth in 2019 would revert to the “post-crash trend” of between 2% and 2.5%, “demonstrating that the personal tax cuts offered nothing more than a sugar high, and that the business tax cuts did nothing to lift trend growth. Though they did make shareholders richer”.

Capital Economics chief US economist Paul Ashworth said he expected growth of 2.2% this year and 1.2% in 2020.