The US economy cooled slightly in the first quarter of 2018 but still grew at an annualized rate of 2.3 percent, which is better than many Wall Street analysts anticipated, the Commerce Department reported Friday.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the value of all goods and services produced in the United States, rose 2.9 percent in the previous quarter. And while the GDP is down this quarter, due in part to weak consumer spending, it’s still the highest growth of any January-March period in three years.
Strong business investment helped offset consumer pullback.
The latest Commerce report was the first since President Trump’s tax cuts, including a reduction in corporate taxes designed to boost investments and jobs, took effect on Jan. 1.
The increase in first-quarter real GDP reflected positive contributions in several areas, including exports, private inventory investment and government spending, according to the report.
Current-dollar GDP increased 4.3 percent, or $211 billion, to a $19.9 trillion level. In the fourth quarter, current-dollar GDP rose 5.3 percent.
The price index for gross domestic purchases increased 2.8 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 2.5 percent in the fourth. The PCE price index increased 2.7 percent, the same increase as in the fourth quarter. Excluding food and energy prices, the PCE price index increased 2.5 percent.
The full report from the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis is available here.