Another unexpected Friday – American Thinker

That fellow Mister Unexpected won’t go away. He showed up again in the latest economic data. Let’s look at the story:

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, grew by 1.6% on an annualized basis in the three-month period from January through March, the Commerce Department said in its first reading of the data on Thursday. 

That is much lower than the 2.4% increase forecast by LSEG economists and marks a sharp slowdown from the 3.4% pace seen during the fourth quarter. It is the slowest pace of growth in two years.

“This was a worst of both worlds report — slower than expected growth, higher than expected inflation,” said David Donabedian, chief investment officer of CIBC Private Wealth US. “The biggest setback is the acceleration in core inflation, and in particular, the services sector rising above a 5% annual rate.”

Well, that’s a double, one between your eyes and in your stomach.

With all due respect to the experts, and we sure have enough of them, it’s hard to see how all this stuff is so unexpected.

All you have to do is buy gasoline or go out to eat and you will get a class on Inflation 101. Everything is more expensive and we are not dining in upscale restaurants. My last visit to a well-known fast food place cost me $18.

As for the economy in general, we hear more and more from business owners about the cost of inventory and difficulty of finding workers. Anyway, I am not talking to anyone who tells me that things are going great.

So another Friday and everybody is having coffee with Mr. Unexpected, and paying more for the coffee.

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