US economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter of 2022, data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed on Thursday.
The nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic activity, expanded at an annualized rate of just 1.4% between January and March.
Investors were already bracing for bad news on the economy. The expectation was that the latest GDP reading would show US economic growth plummeting to 1.1% in the first three months of the year.
US economic activity, which is measured by GDP, was forecast to grow only at an annualized rate of 1.1% in the first quarter of the year, according to Refinitiv consensus expectations. Even the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow model forecast a seasonally adjusted annualized growth rate of just 0.4% on Wednesday, down from 1.3% in mid-April.
Economists also anticipated that growth would ultimately slow from the pace seen during the grand reopening. But, even compared to pre-pandemic times, when the US economy grew steadily at a more moderate pace, anything as low as 1% would be disappointing.