We need to talk about Q1 GDP growth

Thanks to a markedly weaker gain in consumption than we were previously expecting, it now appears that first-quarter GDP growth was no more than 1% annualised. Following on from the 1.4% gain in the final quarter of last year, that suggests the US economy lost more momentum and could be headed for a full-blown downturn. The risk of a recession this year is still relatively low, however, particularly as the improvement in the activity surveys points to a rebound in GDP growth soon.