U.S. First Quarter Actual GDP Annualized Quarterly Growth Rate Revised Down to 1.6%

The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that the U.S. GDP growth rate for the first quarter was revised downward to 1.6% annually, lower than the initial estimate of 2.0%, but better than the 0.5% of the fourth quarter last year.

The revision of this data by 0.4 percentage points was mainly due to the agency's comprehensive downward adjustment of business spending and consumer expenditure data. Notably, the first quarter personal consumption expenditure grew by only 1.4% annually, lower than the initial value of 1.6%. Corporate profits fell by 0.4% sequentially, after a substantial growth of 5.7% in the previous quarter. In addition, the final sales of domestic private buyers, excluding high-volatility components such as inventory and trade, were also adjusted down by 0.1 percentage point to 2.4%.

Another indicator of economic strength, Gross Domestic Income (GDI), released simultaneously, only grew by 0.9% in the first quarter, a significant slowdown from the 1.6% of the previous quarter. Overall, the U.S. economy weakened across multiple core dimensions such as consumption, corporate investment, and income in the first quarter, with increasing signs of a cooling economy nationwide.