The initial reading on the GDP is not good news on the economy. This is the first release and it will be revised twice in the months ahead. Today the Commerce Department said gross domestic product grew at a 1.3 percent annual rate in the quarter, down from the 2.5 percent rate in the fourth quarter. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast GDP, the broadest measure of the economy, would slow to growth of 1.8 percent in the quarter.
The growth was the weakest since the 1.2 percent rate in the first quarter of 2003, and was even far weaker than the 1.8 percent growth seen in the fourth quarter of 2005 after the damage done to the economy by Hurricane Katrina.
No comments:
Post a Comment