Posted on 04/28/2016 5:54:35 AM PDT by BradtotheBone
U.S. economic growth braked sharply to its slowest pace in two years as consumer spending softened and a strong dollar continued to undercut exports, but a pick-up in activity is anticipated given a buoyant labor market.
Gross domestic product increased at a 0.5 percent annual rate, the slowest since the first quarter of 2014, the Labor Department said on Thursday in its advance estimate, also as businesses doubled down on efforts to reduce unwanted merchandise clogging up warehouses.
The economy was also blindsided by cheap oil, which has hurt the profits of oil field companies like Schlumberger and Halliburton, resulting in business spending contracting at its fastest pace since the second quarter of 2009, when the recession was ending.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the economy expanding at a 0.7 percent rate in the first quarter. The economy grew at a 1.4 percent pace in the fourth quarter.
Almost all sectors of the economy weakened in the first quarter, with the housing market the lone star.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Lol!!! Business is booming baby!!!
You can bet it will be adjusted lower. It almost ALWAYS goes lower when it’s this bad.
It will be fun watching the administration spin this one...
Can be seen as both positive and negative. Negative because of lower growth. Positive since it make Madam President less likely.
Fox Business (Regan show?) was all over the economic forecast of a recession the other day. The talking heads agreed that it is an absolutely real possibility.
Two quarters of zero growth is a recession, and this administration plays the adjustment game to the max. They’ll slip a zero growth adjustment in during a busy news cycle, a tail wagging, etc.
Finally reaching European levels of growth...
I wonder how much they had to cook the books to keep it from negative GDP?
GDP numbers almost always revised downward over the last several years. I expect this .5% to magically turn into a 0-.1% in the coming revisions.
No lie. The last 8 years has just been one big lie.
It will be quietly reduced, so no one notices, and when the next report comes out, they'll show another decrease. Voila! We have a recession right before the elections.
Should be a huge boon for Trump!
Beneath pathetic, it is Obummer.
That’s just how much more money we printed.
Where did this line in this article come from? Straight from the Oval Office and the DNC? Blindsided, as in a football term?
I expect marketing fluff from CNNABCCBSNBC but CNBC should be above thi ... oh, wait, it's CNBC, home of the Washington Shills.
Let’s not forget Obama’s boast last week in Europe that he saved the world’s economy in 2009. Some recovery /S
Massive government regulations? 20 Trillion in debt? Illegals pouring across our borders? ObamaCare? The Fed manipulating the stock market? Massive increases in welfare and food stamps? Exports of our jobs overseas? Importation of huge numbers of H1B visa holders? The highest corporate taxes on earth? Slackers and Gibsmedats by the scores of millions?
I could go on, but why? It's a wonder we are still standing in a weak wobble.
Yet somehow, with this anemic growth over the last several years, unemployment is down to 5%.
Go figure!
Lowest growth rate in two years.
Recovery Summer VII.
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