U.S. economy beats estimates at 1.9% Q1 growth

Washington, D.C. -- A Friday report by Bloomberg said that the U.S. economy grew at a 1.9% pace in the first quarter, edging estimates of a 1.8% growth pace but marking the start of what policymakers project is a temporary slowdown in growth.



The revised rise in gross domestic product matches the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and follows a 3.1% gain in the prior quarter, according to Friday’s Commerce Department figures.



“We’re going to see improvement in the second half of the year, but I would not expect it to be stellar,” Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Fla., told Bloomberg in advance of the report. “We still have a bunch of headwinds for growth.”