GDP growth reacts to virus threat

WASHINGTON » The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.1% in the final quarter of last year, but damage from the spreading coronavirus is likely depressing growth in the current quarter and for the rest of the year.

The overall pace of growth in the October-December quarter was unchanged from its initial estimate a month ago, though the components were slightly altered, the Commerce Department said Thursday. A slowdown in business restocking was less severe than first believed. But a cutback in business investment in new equipment was more of a drag on growth than initially thought.

Economists have been downgrading their forecasts for the first quarter of this year as fears of the impact of the virus has escalated. Stock markets have plunged this week on news that the number of coronavirus cases worldwide has now topped 81,000.

That decline resumed on Thursday with the Dow Jones industrial average down sharply in early trading. All major U.S. markets tumbled into correction.

The virus, which started in Wuhan, China, has spread to more than 30 countries, including the United States, Italy and South Korea.

Vital supply chains from China that companies in the United States and elsewhere depend on have been disrupted, and that problem is expected to worsen. Microsoft and Apple have warned about adverse impacts from the supply chain disruptions.

U.S. companies with sizeable operations in China are being im

pacted directly. McDonald’s has closed hundreds of stores there. Starbucks has closed more than half of its locations. While it’s begun to open stores in China where the outbreak has abated, it is now spreading faster outside of China.

In a report to investors Thursday, Goldman Sachs said the fallout from the virus would likely wipe out all the earnings growth it had been predicting for 2020 if the virus continues to spread.

David Kostin, a strategist for the firm, said his baseline estimate is now for zero growth in S&P 500 earnings per share this year, down from an earlier forecast of 5.5% earnings growth.

The rising fears about the economic damage the virus can do have inflicted the worst losses on U.S. stocks in two years, less than a week after Wall Street was hitting record highs.

WILFREDO LEE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE A truck leaves the docks at PortMiami in Miami. On Thursday, the Commerce Department issued the second estimate of how the U.S. economy performed in the fourth quarter.