The U.S. Economy's Winter Nap Was Deeper Than We Thought

The U.S. economy grew just 0.1 percent during the first quarter of the year, well below what were pretty weak expectations. The average forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg had called for a 1.2 percent increase. It’s the worst quarter of growth since the final three months of 2012, when the economy also notched a 0.1 percent growth rate.

While it may seem overly simple, the weather was clearly the biggest culprit in slowing the economy to start the year, with much of the country socked with record amounts of snow, sleet, and frigid temperatures—not conducive to going out and buying stuff. Some economists regard the slowdown as a natural “breather” from the robust second half of last year, when gross domestic product averaged 3.3 percent growth. Still, for the economy to essentially flatten out and register almost no growth took most by surprise.