U.S. economic growth slowed a bit more than expected in the final three months of 2024, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

The U.S. economy expanded throughout 2024, but growth slowed in the last three months of the year as businesses pulled back on investments and exported fewer goods overseas.

U.S. economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter as a strike at Boeing depressed business investment in equipment, but consumer spending increased at its fastest pace in nearly two years, underscoring strong domestic demand that probably keeps the Federal Reserve on a slow interest rate cut path this year.

U.S. real Gross Domestic Product increased 2.3% at an annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to a Thursday report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Third quarter GDP was 3.1%.

Economists expect that real GDP grew about 2.5% in the period, below the third quarter’s growth rate, due to a trade deficit in goods.

Fourth quarter economic growth eased to an annualized rate of 2.3 percent, shy of an expected 2.6 percent, as the economy heads into uncertain territory. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed from an impressive 3.