Today’s figures have revealed that the US real gross domestic product (GDP) has grown more slowly than initially projected, increasing at an annual rate of 1.1% in the first quarter of 2023. This marks a sharp decrease from the strong 2.6% growth registered in the fourth quarter of the previous year.
Contributing factors to this deceleration have been an overall downturn in private inventory investment, as well as a noticeable slowing in nonresidential fixed investment. Despite a projection by Dow Jones of a 2% growth in GDP, Bloomberg reported an opposing view expressed by Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial. He commented that “The US economy is likely at an inflection point as consumer spending has softened in recent months…consumers are getting more pessimistic about the future.”
It is therefore evident that several areas of the US economy experienced either positive or negative developments during the first quarter. At the same time, imports, which are considered a subtraction in measuring GDP, actually increased during this period.
Moreover, separate figures released by the US Department of Labor today suggested that the US job market remains relatively stable, as US initial jobless claims dropped by 16,000 to a total of 230,000. This
