Yesterday's scheduled release of US gross domestic product ((GDP)) for the fourth quarter is still a mystery, courtesy of lingering effects of the partial government shutdown that ended last week. The good news is that whenever the Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes the data (the date remains "to be determined") the results are likely to show that the expected slowdown in Q4 growth was moderate. The question is whether the trend will continue to decelerate this year. The jury's still out, due to limited 2019 data published so far.
Let's start with the