To: T L Comiskey who wrote (49797 ) 6/25/2004 9:41:20 AM From: T L Comiskey Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 89467 Wacked again............. Business - Reuters First Qtr. Growth Slashed, Inflation Up WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy grew much more slowly than previously thought in the first quarter while inflation was higher, a government report showed on Friday. The surprise downward revision to gross domestic product - which measures total output within the nation's borders - cut growth to a 3.9 percent annual rate in the first three months of 2004 from the 4.4 percent reported a month ago and below the 4.1 percent pace in the final quarter of last year. Wall Street analysts had not expected the Commerce Department (news - web sites) to change the GDP (news - web sites) estimate. The department said the reduction in its final measure of first-quarter economic growth resulted from a sharp upward revision to imports - which subtract from GDP - and a downward revision to the amount consumers spent on bank services. The government also ratcheted up a key measure of inflation, confirming an acceleration in price rises that has fueled expectations the Federal Reserve (news - web sites) will begin raising interest rates next week to head off inflation. The core price index for consumer spending - a favorite of Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan (news - web sites) that cuts out volatile food and energy prices - gained at an annual rate of 2.0 percent in the quarter, a bump up from the 1.7 percent reported a month ago. Commerce also provided its estimate of market-based personal consumption expenditures, a supplemental measure meant to show household purchases of goods and services that excludes implicit prices such as banking services. It said the market-based PCE rose at a 3.1 percent annual rate in the first quarter, while the core rose at a more moderate 1.6 percent annual rate. The core rate was double the 0.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter. Until now, the market-based PCE had been released with personal income data, several days after the GDP report. In its final snapshot of the first-quarter economy, Commerce said after-tax corporate profits rose 2.1 percent from the fourth quarter, a sharp upward revision from the 1.4 percent reported a month ago. Still, the profit climb was well below the 7.6 percent rise notched in the final three months of 2003.