Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com — In the first quarter of 2018, the U.S. economy declined at 1.4% annually. This was due to the Omicron-variant Covid-19 wave that discouraged travel and placed many people under restrictions on mobility.

Analysts had predicted a much greater impact on growth from the development. The consensus forecast was for an annualized increase of 1.1%. This is down from 6.9% during the fourth quarter last year.

Recent GDP data tend to have been revised higher to reflect that government’s methodology for compiling them does not fully reflect changes in working patterns triggered by pandemic.