The first reading on Q1 GDP just came out and the headline number was a miss. Growth decelerated to a pace of just 2.2 percent from 3.0 percent in Q4. Economists were looking for a 2.5 percent.
However, the headline belied some good news in the underlying figures. Personal consumption jumped 2.9 percent; economists were looking for 2.3 percent. Also government spending fell 5.9 percent, which confirms that they're not the ones driving this economy.
The bad news from the BEA:
The deceleration in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected a deceleration in private inventory investment and a downturn in nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by accelerations in PCE and in exports.
Here's a chart from Scott Barber of Thomson Reuters Datastream. It offers an elegant breakdown of the components of GDP growth.
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