Economic growth south of the border surpassed what the experts expected in the last quarter of calendar 2018.
Figures released Thursday by the U.S. Commerce Department showed Gross Domestic Product rose 2.6%.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected a gain of 2.2% after a 3.4% rise in the third quarter. The growth came amid a bevy of uncertainty and a time when the stock market briefly slid into bear market territory.
While the GDP report was only preliminary, it would mean average growth for the year was 3.1%.
Growth was helped by a 2.8% rise in consumer spending along with increased nonresidential fixed investment, exports, private inventory investment, and federal government spending. Weakness in residential fixed investment, which fell 3.5%, and state and local government spending served as a drag. The gross private domestic investment gain slowed to 4.6% in the quarter after a hefty 15.2% rise in the previous period.
Exports rose 1.6% in the quarter, reversing a 4.9% decline in the previous quarter, while imports increased by 2.7%, making trade a slight net negative.
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