The latest estimate puts GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2014 at 2.2 percent; down from the original report of 2.6 percent.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released its second estimate on 2014's fourth quarter GDP; downgrading its first estimate of 2.6 percent to 2.2 percent over the same period in 2013.

Higher imports, decreased federal spending and a smaller increase then was first thought in business inventories were cited as major reasons for the downward revision.

On the plus side, this estimate found that nonresidential fixed investment was higher than anticipated as was state and local government spending.

The most troubling sign might be the rate of imports compared to exports. The original estimate put the import increase at 8.9 percent and the export increase at 2.8 percent. The new estimate places those numbers at 10.1 and 3.2 respectively.