The US-China trade conflict, business uncertainty and a slowdown in business investment spending all hit the US economyUS businesses ended last year subdued, according to preliminary estimates for economic activity in the fourth quarter released by the US government on Thursday.
These helped offset a negative contribution to growth from a big drawdown in business inventories of raw materials, work in progress and unsold products . Real private fixed non-residential investment in structures, equipment and intellectual property shrank at an annualised rate of 1.5%. Non-residential fixed investment has now declined for three quarters running, the longest downturn since the recession of 2008/2009.
And as services have increased their share of employment and GDP in recent decades, the business cycle has become more muted, with the exception of the deep recession that followed the financial crisis of 2008/2009.
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