Ed Morrissey

This is not good news, not for Joe Biden or anyone else. Consumer spending allowed this to remain in positive turf, but even that dropped from a 3.3% increase in 2023Q4 to 2.5% in Q1. The biggest hit appears to be exports, which fell from 5.1% in Q4 (amd 5.3% in Q3) to 0.9% in Q1. Import sales increased at their highest level in two years, 7.2%. Also notable: government spending hit its lowest mark in almost two years, and federal spending actually declined in Q1 (-0.2%). Expect that to change fast. 

Final sales of domestic product outpaced overall GDP slightly, at 2.0%. That looks like an inventory drain, albeit mild, that may prompt a bit more activity in the next quarter for restocking. 

I'll be headlining more analyses of this report as we go along today.