(the US economy is on the brink of recession but inflation unexpectedly picked up in the first quarter) on Thursday night, Beijing time, the United States released a number of economic data, such as the first quarter GDP and core price index, and the negative effects of sustained interest rate hikes were also revealed. While economic growth slowed sharply, inflation picked up again. Specifically: ① US GDP slowed sharply in the first quarter. In the United States, the actual annualized quarter-on-quarter initial value of GDP in the first quarter was 1.1%, which was much lower than the expected 1.9%, and slowed down for two consecutive quarters. The data show that economic growth is gradually declining against the backdrop of Fed interest rate hikes and high inflation. The rise in ②, a popular inflation measure of the Fed, accelerated. The personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index rose at an annualised rate of 4.2 per cent in the first quarter, while the core index, excluding food and energy, rose 4.9 per cent, faster than expected and the biggest increase in a year. Separate data released by the ③ on Thursday showed that initial jobless claims fell for the first time in three weeks to 230000, below expectations of 248000. ④ sales of second-hand homes in the US fell 5.2 per cent in March from a month earlier, the biggest decline since September 2022, and is expected to rise 0.8 per cent from a previous rise of 0.8 per cent. After the release of ⑤ 's US GDP, JPMorgan expects US GDP to contract by 0.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2023. Still, U. S. President Joe Biden said the GDP report shows that the economy remains strong during the transition. ⑥ A sharp slowdown in US economic growth may increase Fed interest rate cut expectations in 2023, US stocks opened higher, and the NASDAQ is now up 1.26%. The dollar index also strengthened slightly, rising 0.16% to 101.6.