The U.S. economy recorded a much stronger-than-reported growth in the first quarter of this year, according to an upward revision from the Commerce Department on Thursday.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2023 rose 2% when compared to the same period of last year. The data was much higher than the previous estimate of 1.3% and a forecast from Dow Jones for a 1.4% gain. This was the third and final estimate for 1Q23 economic growth. The actual growth in the final quarter of 2022 was 2.6%.
This stronger-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter eased fears of the U.S. going into a recession as several economists believed it will be in the fourth quarter of this year.
Still, concerns of recession are not entirely gone as a separate report published on Thursday showed that companies’ payoffs are well below expectations, which indicated that the labour market remains strong even after a full five percentage points of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
An upward revision this much was in accordance with consumer expenditures and exports that were stronger than previously estimated, the Bureau of Economic Analysis wrote in a note.
