US Q4 GDP revised up but misses forecasts Analysts had forecast that the US Bureau of Economic Analysis' second estimate for GDP growth in the fourth quarter would be revised up to show the economy grew by 0.5pc. Despite now recording a growth in the US economy in the final three months of 2012, the BEA said the general picture for the economy over that time remained largely the same as last month, when they estimated a 0.1pc contraction. Paul Ashworth, US economist at Capital Economics, said markets would pay little attention to this revision as it was "old news now anyway." Meanwhile, official data released today showed that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, suggesting some traction in the labour market recovery. New claims for US unemployment benefits fell last week to 344,000, in line with the recent trend after the previous week's spike higher, government data released Thursday showed. Unemployment remains the biggest challenge to the US economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress this week. According to the latest official data, the US unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in January.