(CN) - The U.S. economy expanded at a meager 1.1 percent pace this spring, as businesses large and small trimmed their stockpile of unsold goods and invested less in equipment and new facilities.
The numbers released Friday by the Commerce Department are a hair below the 1.2 percent growth measure by gross domestic product.
The bright spot in Friday's report was consumer spending, which offset the lack of spending by businesses and grew at its fastest pace in a year and a half.
Economists beleive the numbers will be far more robust in the second half of 2016. The Federal Reserve is currently forecasting 3.4 percent growth in the July-September quarter.
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