US economic slowdown confirmed by growth figures

US growth slowed in the first three months of 2011 to an annualised rate of 1.8%, which is a 0.4% quarterly rise, the Commerce Department has confirmed.

This compares with an annualised growth rate of 3.1% in the final three months of 2010.
The slowdown was blamed on corporate profits unexpectedly contracting for the first time in more than two years.

Many analysts had been expecting the growth figure to be revised upwards to about 2%.
(...) By

FOLLOWING ARTICLE LINK, US economic slowdown confirmed by growth figures