From Reuters:
In its final estimate on the first quarter on Friday, the Commerce Department said gross domestic product expanded at a 2.7 percent annual rate instead of the 3 percent pace it reported last month.
Although the growth pace was below market expectations for a 3 percent rate, it still marked three straight quarters of expansion as the economy digs out of its most brutal downturn since the 1930s.
However, recent data have suggested the recovery lost some momentum in the second quarter, with persistently high unemployment restraining consumer spending, and home building and purchases faltering.
U.S. stock index futures cut gains on the report, while government debt prices rose. The U.S. dollar extended declines against the yen.
“You are getting growth in fits and starts, rather than an outright contraction. We are not generating real income growth that we like. It’s a recovery that has a real weight on its back,” said Paul Ballew, chief economist at Nationwide in Columbus, Ohio.
The Federal Reserve this week struck a cautious note on the economy and said the recovery was “proceeding.” The economy is, however, not expected to fall back into recession.
Read the whole thing here. As Glenn Reynolds has often noted, the word “unexpectedly” seems to accompany just about every economic report. Unexpectedly is the ‘new black’!
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