The Labor Department's final calculations show that Gross Domestic Product, the broadest gauge of economic activity, increased 2.5% in the fourth quarter.

Gross domestic product rose at a 2.5% annual rate October through December, revised up from an estimate made a month ago of 2.2% for the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Third-quarter growth was 2.0%.In all of 2006, GDP grew 3.3%, compared to 3.2% in 2005 and 3.9% in 2004…Residential fixed investment, the GDP component that includes spending on housing, plunged by 19.8% in the fourth quarter, a bigger drop than the earlier estimated 19.1%. Third-quarter spending fell by 18.7%. The 19.8% plunge was the largest decline since 21.7% in first-quarter 1991.

The economy shrugged off the housing issue sin the fourth quarter. The consensus for the first quarter seems to be for growth of around 2%. We'll see.

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