Fourth-Quarter U.S. GDP Forecasts Lowered on Shutdown

The U.S. economy will probably expand at a 2 percent annualized rate in the final three months of the year, less than economists projected at the start of the budget impasse that resulted in a 16-day government shutdown.

The median projection of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg yesterday compares with a 2.4 percent forecast in an Oct. 4-9 survey. Gross domestic product, the sum of all goods and services produced in the nation, will accelerate to a 2.6 percent growth rate in the first three months of 2014, unchanged from the previous survey, economists said.