The US economy grew at an annualized pace of 2.6%, significantly lower than 3% expected.

Durable goods orders came out at 2.9% m/m, above 0.9% predicted. Core orders advanced by 0.6%, more than 0.5% forecast.

The US dollar is initially lower.

The US was expected to report an annualized growth rate of 3% in the fourth quarter after 3.2% in the final read for Q3. This is the first read out of three.

Durable goods orders for December were predicted to rise by 0.8% after 1.3% in November (before revisions). Core orders carried expectations for an advance of 0.5% after a slide of 0.1% beforehand.

The US dollar remained on the back foot ahead of the GDP release. We had US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin send the dollar plunging on his “a weak dollar is good for the US” comment. And yesterday we had his boss, President Trump, pumping up the dollar. But as the dust settled, the greenback retreated once again. Things have stabilized ahead of the release.

Trump talked in Davos earlier but did not make any market-moving news. He said that “America first does not mean America alone”.