Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com – The U.S. Economy shrank slightly less than was initially expected in the first quarter, according to data published on Thursday. 

The Bureau of Economic Analysis stated that the annualized rate of contraction was 1.5% rather than 1.4% as per preliminary reading. 

The revision’s gloomy outlook was slightly offset by some positive surprises regarding the timely release of data on unemployment claims. From 218,000 last week, 210,000 people applied for unemployment benefits. Analysts expected 215,000. Analysts had expected 215,000. However, it rose to 1.346million.