US GDP growth slows to 1.4% in Q4 as shutdown bites

US economic growth slowed to 1.4% in Q4 as a government shutdown hit spending, while inflation stayed stubbornly high, complicating the Fed’s policy outlook. The American economy closed out last year with an unexpected loss of momentum, as a prolonged government shutdown and more cautious households combined to drag growth well below expectations. Gross domestic product expanded at an annualised rate of just 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to data released Friday by the US Commerce Department. The reading marked a sharp slowdown from the 4.4% pace recorded in the third quarter and fell well short of the 2.5% growth economists had pencilled in. The weaker print suggested that the world’s largest economy cooled more abruptly at the end…