by Calculated Risk on 1/30/2008 09:28:00 AM

From the WSJ: GDP Growth Slowed in 4th Quarter, As Housing Continues Its Drag

Gross domestic product rose at a seasonally adjusted 0.6% annual rate October through December, the Commerce Department said Wednesday in the first estimate of fourth-quarter GDP.
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Aside from the housing slump, slowing consumer spending, inventory liquidation and lower overseas sales restrained the economy.
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Inflation gauges within Wednesday's GDP data indicated acceleration in prices.
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The biggest GDP component, consumer spending, decelerated in the fourth quarter, rising 2.0% after increasing 2.8% in the third quarter.

We will know more on December consumer spending tomorrow when the monthly Personal Income and Outlays report is released, but ... we know that PCE (personal consumption expenditures) was strong in October and November (see Econbrowser):

The October and November 2007 data imply an estimate of the growth rate of real consumption spending of 3.2% during the fourth quarter of 2007.

Since PCE came in at only 2.0%, clearly there was a sharp slowdown in December, and the growth from the last month of Q3 to last month of Q4 was probably negative - suggesting a recession might have started in December.

Edit: The ADP employment data is also available this morning, showing nonfarm private employment grew by 130,000 in January, and without a downward revision, those numbers are definitely not recessionary.