Author: Joseph Lawler, Washington Examiner

GDP contracted at a 1.4% annualized rate in the first quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday morning, meaning that slowing commerce added to the woes of high inflation. The decline in GDP, which is adjusted for inflation, is a major reversal from the previous quarter, when growth soared to a 6.9% rate as…

Inflation rose to the highest level in four decades in January in the gauge preferred by the Federal Reserve, increasing pressure on the central bank to move quickly to curb price gains. Prices rose 6.1% in the year ending in January, according to the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index updated Friday by the Bureau of…