United States Q1 GDP Growth Rate rose to 2.1%
The final GDP Growth Rate showed the economy expanded by 2.1% in the January-March period, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported on Thursday. The reading shows a marked increase from the prior quarter’s 0.5% expansion.
The GDP Price Index (deflator) remained strong, rising by an annualised 3.6%, up from 3.5% gain.
What do US GDP Growth Rate figures mean for the US Dollar?
The US Dollar now comes under some mild downside pressure on Thursday, prompting the US Dollar Index (DXY) to abandon the area of recent tops and recede toward 101.50.
In the meantime, the Greenback continues to draw support from growing expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) could raise interest rates again later this year, particularly after policymakers delivered a hawkish hold at last week's meeting.
GDP FAQs
A country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the rate of growth of its economy over a given period of time, usually a quarter. The most reliable figures are those that compare GDP to the previous quarter e.g Q2 of 2023 vs Q1 of 2023, or to the same period in the previous year, e.g Q2 of 2023 vs Q2 of 2022. Annualized quarterly GDP figures extrapolate the growth rate of the quarter as if it were constant for the rest of the year. These can be misleading, however, if temporary shocks impact growth in one quarter but are unlikely to last all year – such as happened in the first quarter of 2020 at the outbreak of the covid pandemic, when growth plummeted.
A higher GDP result is generally positive for a nation’s currency as it reflects a growing economy, which is more likely to produce goods and services that can be exported, as well as attracting higher foreign investment. By the same token, when GDP falls it is usually negative for the currency. When an economy grows people tend to spend more, which leads to inflation. The country’s central bank then has to put up interest rates to combat the inflation with the side effect of attracting more capital inflows from global investors, thus helping the local currency appreciate.
When an economy grows and GDP is rising, people tend to spend more which leads to inflation. The country’s central bank then has to put up interest rates to combat the inflation. Higher interest rates are negative for Gold because they increase the opportunity-cost of holding Gold versus placing the money in a cash deposit account. Therefore, a higher GDP growth rate is usually a bearish factor for Gold price.
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