FINANCIAL TIMES: The US economy contracted in the first three months of this year, according to a second official estimate released on Friday.
The commerce department said the economy shrank 0.7 per cent on an annualised basis in the first quarter. That is much weaker than the 0.2 per cent growth the first estimate showed. Economists had forecast a downward revision, with the consensus expecting a deeper contraction of 0.9 per cent…
Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics, called Friday’s numbers a “temporary blip” and blamed them in part on seasonal effects. He said he expected the economy to avoid two straight quarters of contraction and a technical recession and return to 2.5-3 per cent growth in the second quarter… (more)
