The U.S. economy slowed in the final three months of last year to an annual growth rate of 2.6 percent, the slowest pace since the beginning of 2018, as the government shutdown and other factors took a toll on growth. Economists believe growth has slowed even more in the current quarter.

Growth in the gross domestic product in the October-December quarter was down from a 3.4 percent gain in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The government cited slower consumer spending as the biggest factor in the slowdown. The 35-day government shutdown shaved an estimated 0.1 percentage point from growth in the fourth quarter.

GDP growth for all of 2018 came in at 2.9 percent, the best showing in three years since 2015.

The current expansion, now in its 10th year, is the second longest in U.S. history. But it has featured the weakest annual growth rates of any recovery in the post-World War II period, with growth averaging just above 2 percent.

In a separate report, applications for unemployment benefits, a proxy for layoffs, rose by 8,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 225,000. That is still a low level by historical standards and suggests businesses are mostly holding on to their workers in a tight labor market. The unemployment rate in January stood at 4 percent, near a half-century low.

The 2.6 percent GDP growth rate in the fourth quarter was the slowest since a 2.2 percent rise in the first quarter of last year. That was followed by two strong quarters with gains of 4.2 percent in the second quarter and 3.4 percent in the third quarter.