First-quarter growth in U.S. weakest in three years

Consumers just aren’t buying it In the first quarter of 2017, the U.S. economy grew at its slowest pace in three years as consumer spending slowed. However, a surge in business investment and wage growth suggests activity will regain momentum as the year progresses, or so the belief system goes. The U.S. gross domestic product (GNP) increased at a 0.7 percent annual rate as the government cut defense spending and businesses spent less on inventories. That represents the weakest performance since the first quarter of 2014. PC shipments were also down significantly, and Intel reported a 10% decline in sales