  A possible slowing down of the cosmic expansion is investigated through a
cosmographic approach. By expanding the luminosity distance to fourth order and
fitting the SN Ia data from the most recent compilations (Union, Constitution
and Union 2), the marginal likelihood distributions for the deceleration
parameter today suggest a recent reduction of the cosmic acceleration and
indicate that there is a considerable probability for $q_0>0$. Also in contrast
to the prediction of the $\Lambda$CDM model, the cosmographic $q(z)$
reconstruction permits a cosmic expansion history where the cosmic acceleration
could already have peaked and be presently slowing down, which would imply that
the recent accelerated expansion of the Universe is a transient phenomenon. It
is also shown that to describe a transient acceleration the luminosity distance
needs to be expanded at least to fourth order. The present cosmographic results
depend neither on the validity of general relativity nor on the matter-energy
contents of the Universe.
