-Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit
The US economy rose marginally in the first quarter amid a fall in business investment and exports as the Greenback strengthened, as well as oil prices and harsh winter weather. During the first quarter, non-residential fixed investment dropped 3.4%, compared to 4.7% in the last quarter, while real export slid 7.2% in Q1, down from 4.5% increase in the December quarter of 2014. The US GDP climbed an annualized 0.2%, compared with the 2.2% growth in the fourth quarter of 2014, and against economists' expectations for a 1.0% rate expansion. Yet, one of the main reasons of poor economic growth is export, however, investments in oil and gas drilling tumbled 48.7%. Despite the fact that the economy's growth pace was lacklustre, analysts are predicting strong expansion of the US economy during next quarters as consumer spending and employment are likely to pick up during the year. The IMF had forecast that the US economy would expand 3.1% in 2015, despite the fact that after the Great Recession economy growth in average did not exceed 2.2%. Meanwhile, consumer confidence unexpectedly dipped in April due to severe weather. The Conference Board's index of consumer sentiment dropped to 95.2, down from upwardly revised 101.4 in the previous month. Elsewhere, the Fed signalled that it could hike interest rates at any meeting, opening the door to the chance of interest rate increase as soon as this summer. Still, many economists continue to assume that the central bank's first rate rise since 2006 would occur only in June, September or December.
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