{"id":1505383,"date":"2026-04-30T08:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?guid=698f9d3dd4fc0c2f18b10544f30fa18f"},"modified":"2026-05-17T21:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:35:22","slug":"us-economy-grows-at-solid-pace-to-start-2026__trashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1505383","title":{"rendered":"US economy grows at solid pace to start 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img src=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/04\/3653c144266ede944a12a37bcc87a8da.jpg\" alt\/><figcaption>People walk along Broadway with shopping bags in Manhattan on February 27, 2026 in New York City. (Spencer Platt\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>(NEW YORK) -- The United States economy grew at a solid pace over the first three months of 2026, rebounding from sluggish performance at the end of last year, a government report on Thursday showed.<\/p><p>The economy grew at an annualized rate of 2% in the first quarter, marking an acceleration from 0.5% growth recorded in the previous quarter. The performance came in slightly below economists' expectations.<\/p><p>The fresh data covers a period mostly before the outset of the Iran war on Feb. 28, which sent gasoline prices surging and prompted warnings of a possible recession.<\/p><p>The jump in economic output over the first quarter owes to a rise in government spending, exports and investment, the U.S. Commerce Department said.<\/p><p>Consumer spending slowed down from the previous quarter, however, providing a cautionary note for the nation's outlook. Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.<\/p><p>Households, meanwhile, are weathering a surge in prices as a result of an oil shock set off by the Iran war.<\/p><p>The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, a measure of inflation preferred by the Federal Reserve, increased 3.5% in March, the report showed. That reading marked a jump from a 2.8% rate in the previous month.<\/p><p>The Middle East conflict prompted Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of the global supply of oil and natural gas.<\/p><p>The average price of a gallon of gas stands at $4.30 as of Thursday, hitting the highest level in four years.<\/p><p>The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, in part due to the recent rise in costs. The benchmark rate stands at a level between 3.5% and 3.75%.<\/p><p>The solid economic performance at the outset of this year may allow the Fed to keep interest rates elevated for longer as it seeks to avert a prolonged rise in prices amid the Iran war.<\/p><p>Copyright \u00a9 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People walk along Broadway with shopping bags in Manhattan on February 27, 2026 in New York City. (Spencer Platt\/Getty Images)(NEW YORK) &#8212; The United States economy grew at a solid pace over the first three months of 2026, rebounding from sluggish per&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2130,"featured_media":1502442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/04\/3653c144266ede944a12a37bcc87a8da.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1450],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1505383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-business-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-05 22:22:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/04\/3653c144266ede944a12a37bcc87a8da.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1505383"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1507627,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505383\/revisions\/1507627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1502442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1505383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1505383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1505383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}