The US economy grew by less than forecast in the first three months of this year but inflation gathered pace, which could delay an interest rate cut.
Official figures revealed the economy expanded at an annualised rate of 1.6%, far below expectations and the growth seen in the final months of 2023.
Meanwhile, inflation, which measures the pace of price rises, has increased.
At the start of the year, experts had been forecasting a series of interest rate cuts in the US.
However, inflation is yet to fall back to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, and on Thursday, figures from the US Department of Commerce showed that inflation increased by 3.4% in the first three months of 2024. This is compared to an increase of 1.8% in the final three months of 2023.
At the same time, GDP has slowed from 3.4% growth in the final three months of last year to 1.6%. Economists had been expected it to decelerate but only to 2.4%.