Commerce Department: U.S. Economy Contracted In First Quarter

NPR

Published May 29, 2015 at 1:33 PM EDT

Clothing is offered on sale at a department store in Manhattan on March 12, 2015 in New York City. For a third straight month in February U.S. retail sales unexpectedly fell according to a report by the Commerce Department released on Thursday. The report said that retail sales dropped 0.6 percent, with receipts falling in almost all categories. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter of this year, according to new numbers from the Commerce Department, which reported that the U.S. GDP shrank at a 0.7 percent seasonally-adjusted annual rate in the first quarter.

Bad weather and a strong dollar that hurt U.S. exports are thought to be contributing factors. Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Mike Regan of Bloomberg News about the report, and also about the latest on negotiations over Greece’s debt.

Guest

Michael Regan, editor at Bloomberg News. He tweets @Reganonymous.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

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The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

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