Investing.com – The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta cut its estimate for growth in the U.S. economy for the first quarter of 2016 on Tuesday to declines in the forecasts for real consumer spending growth and real equipment investment growth.
Specifically, the Atlanta Fed decreased its U.S. Q1 GDP growth estimate to 0.4% from the prior 0.7% forecast published on April 1.
The Atlanta Fed explained that after Monday morning's light vehicle sales release from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the manufacturing report from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the forecast for real GDP growth declined from 0.7% to 0.4% due to declines in the forecasts for real consumer spending growth and real equipment investment growth.
They added that Tuesday’s international trade report from the U.S. Census Bureau did not affect their forecast, as a slight decline in the forecast for real net exports was offset by a slight increase in the forecast of real equipment investment growth.