The U.S. economy grew at its weakest pace in three years in 2017's first quarter, as consumer spending barely increased and businesses invested less on inventories.
The lack of momentum in gross domestic product could be seen as a potential setback to President Donald Trump's promise to boost growth.
Figures released Friday by the U.S. Commerce Department showed GDP increased at a 0.7% annual rate, also as the government cut back on defense spending. That was the weakest performance since the first quarter of 2014.
The American economy had grown at a 2.1% pace in the fourth quarter. Economists had forecast GDP rising at a 1.2% pace last quarter. The survey was, however, conducted before Thursday's advance data on the March goods trade deficit and inventories, which saw many economists lowering their Q1 growth estimates.
Even so, the labour market south of the border is near full employment and consumer confidence is near multi-year highs, suggesting that the mostly weather-induced sharp slowdown in consumer spending is probably temporary.
