The U.S. economy is expanding at a 2.7 percent annualized rate in the fourth quarter as data showed weaker business spending as consumer spending rose at a slower pace, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow forecast model showed on Friday.

This was slower than the 2.9 percent pace for fourth-quarter gross domestic product that the Atlanta Fed’s GDP program calculated on December 18.

The nowcast of fourth-quarter real personal consumption expenditures growth decreased from 4.1 percent to 3.7 percent after Friday's personal income and outlays release from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The next GDPNow update is Thursday, January 3. 

The Atlanta Fed revision came just hours after the government announced that Americans lifted their spending 0.4 percent in November from the previous month, a moderate gain that should sustain steady economic growth.

Personal incomes rose 0.2 percent, down from 0.5 percent in the previous month, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Consumer spending jumped by the most in 13 months in October, and November’s solid gain on top of that points to healthy spending in the final three months of the year. Economists closely watch consumer spending because it accounts for about two-thirds of economic activity, the Associated Press reported.

Business spending is showing signs of slowing, leaving more of the burden on consumers to power the economy. A gauge of business investment in large equipment such as machinery and computers fell in November for the third time in four months, according to a separate report Friday.

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