The U.S. economy grew moderately in the fourth quarter, the government confirmed on Thursday, and is facing a bumpy road in early 2020 amid the fast-spreading deadly coronavirus that has roiled financial markets.
Financial markets have been spooked by fears that the coronavirus, which has killed more than 2,000 people, mostly in China, and spread to other countries, could undercut the longest U.S. economic expansion on record, now in its 11th year. President Donald Trump on Wednesday assured Americans the risk from coronavirus remained"very low," and said public health officials were preparing to do"whatever we have to," to deal with the outbreak.
Investment in intellectual property products like software was also downgraded, offseting upgrades to spending on nonresidential structures such as mining exploration, shafts and wells. A second report from the Commerce Department on Thursday showed orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, jumped 1.1per cent last month, the largest gain since January 2019.
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