CNN’s Romans: U.S. Economy Grew at 1.1% in Q1, Lower than Expected

EXCERPT:

ROMANS: “Well, this is the rearview mirror, but it shows us the first three months of the year the economy slowed a little bit, Kaitlan, 1.1 percent is the growth here in the U.S. economy in January, February and March. And you can see how that compares, how that is a slowdown from the last quarter of last year, which was 2.6 percent, and certainly from the middle of last year, which was a strong 3.2 percent. So this is a slowdown. What's happening here? You've got high inflation still, it's coming off the boil of last summer, but inflation is still too high here, and you've got interest rates that have been going up for a year now. So I think this is what it looks like when you see those interest rates so high for over a year. And the government says there was an increase in consumer spending. So the consumer is still strong in the first part of the year, but a decrease in inventory builds and inventory investments, that's businesses cautious and pulling back.”