U.S. GDP grew at a 2% annualized rate in the first quarter, picking up after the longest-ever federal government shutdown limited growth in late 2025.
Business investment did the heavy lifting. Bloomberg said growth was bolstered by a massive AI-driven upswing in business investment, while the Journal said companies invested heavily in artificial intelligence.
Consumers tapped brakes
The expansion still missed economists’ expectations, according to the Journal, because consumer spending growth softened. The Financial Times’ headline put it plainly: U.S. GDP is still ultimately about the consumer.
The split. Companies are spending enough on AI to lift the headline number, but households are no longer adding the same push. That leaves the economy growing, just with more of the work coming from business investment than from shoppers.
The report gives policymakers and executives a cleaner read after the shutdown-distorted fourth quarter. The economy accelerated, but the acceleration came from a narrower source than a broad consumer-led boom.
First-quarter GDP now stands at 2%. The next revision will show whether the AI investment surge held up — and whether consumers slowed more than the initial estimate showed.
