Tags: Economic Outlook | GDP | U.S. economy

The U.S. gross domestic product grew at a 2.8% annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday.

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That was a big improvement over the third quarter’s 1.8% pace and marked the fastest growth since the second quarter of 2010.

However, economists had expected a 3% rate of GDP growth, leading to speculation that growth in early 2012 will not be as robust as many had hoped.

"The economy ended 2011 on a fairly positive note, but the composition of growth in the last quarter is not favorable for growth early this year," Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics, told Reuters.

Weak spending on capital goods and rebuilding of inventories by businesses may signal slower growth in early 2012.

For 2011 as a whole, the U.S. economy grew 1.7% after expanding 3% in 2010.

The largest factor in the U.S. economy, consumer spending, jumped to a 2% growth rate in the fourth quarter from 1.7% in the third quarter.