Wall Street in decline amid weak economic growth data

The US stock market fell on Thursday after disappointing data on quarterly US GDP growth increased concerns about rising inflation and the Fed's tight monetary policy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 295 points to 38,055.10 points, the S&P 500 fell by 11 points to 5,241.69, and the NASDAQ Composite lost 30 points to 16,831.94.

The U.S. economy grew more slowly than previously estimated: GDP increased by 1.3% year-on-year in the first quarter, below the preliminary estimate of 1.6% and well below the 3.4% growth rate in the last three months of 2023.

Although this may indicate the possibility of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in the near future, the inflation rate for the first quarter was revised downward from 3.4% to 3.3%, which is still the highest quarterly increase in price pressure in a year.

Fed policymakers have so far stopped thinking about when they will be able to move to lower interest rates, and focused on Friday's expected data on the PCE price index, which is the Fed's preferred inflation indicator.