The US economy unexpectedly contracted in the first quarter

Data showed that the gross domestic product in the United States declined by 1.4% in the first quarter of this year after rising by 6.9% in the fourth quarter of last year, and on an annual basis, the economy grew by 3.6% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. The US economy added 1.7 million jobs in the first quarter of this year, industrial production grew at a rate of 5%, and the government's measure of inflation in the economy rose by 7.8% in the first quarter, the fastest in 41 years, compared to 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Other data released by the US Labor Department showed that US jobless claims fell by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 180,000 for the week ending April 23.