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GDP maths shows consumer prices rose at a 3.4% annual rate in the first quarter, up from 1.8% in the final quarter of last year.
The U.S. economy continued to grow early this year, but at a sharply slower rate as strong consumer spending was offset by higher prices and pockets of weakness in other sectors.
Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, increased at a 1.6 percent annual rate, but the report also included more evidence that the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tame price increases have stalled.
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) analysts recently released a note predicting that the Federal Reserve will only cut rates once this year, compared with their previous prediction of four cuts. "2024 is starting to look like 2015 but in reverse. Then the Fed signaled hikes it could not deliver; now the Fed may be signaling cuts that the inflation data do not justify," Bank of America economist Michael Gapen said in the note. "The acceleration of inflation this year makes a cut prior to December c