US economic growth for last quarter is revised up to a still-tepid 1.3% annual rate
May 25, 2023, 5:36 AM
New Corvettes are delivered to a Chevrolet dealer in Wheeling, Ill., Tuesday, May 9, 2023. On Thursday, the Commerce Department issues its second of three estimates of how the U.S. economy performed in the first quarter of 2023.(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a lackluster 1.3% annual rate from January through March as businesses wary of an economic slowdown trimmed their inventories, the government said Thursday, a slight upgrade from its initial estimate.
The government had previously estimated that the economy grew at a 1.1% annual rate last quarter.
The Commerce Department’s revised measure of growth in the nation’s gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — marked a deceleration from the second half of 2022.
Despite the first-quarter slowdown, consumer spending, which accounts for around 70% of America’s economic output, rose at a healthy pace.
The steady weakening of economic growth is a consequence of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive drive to tame inflation, with auto loans, credit card borrowing and business loans.
With sales of existing homes were 23% below their level a year earlier.
