The Day at a Glance | April 27 2023

*The US 1Q23 GDP figure disappointed.  

*Consumption in the US also surprised to the downside, although it increased with respect to 2022. 

*Mexico´s trade balance logged a surplus worth 1,168.7 million dollars in March. 

*New unemployment claims in the US decreased to 230 thousand in the week ending April 22nd (vs 245 thousand prev.). 

Economic environment

The US economy grew logged a 1.1% quarterly annualized rate of growth in the 1Q23. This figure set below the expected 1.9% forecasted by the consensus and showed a marked slowdown from the 2.6% figure recorded in the last quarter of 2022; it continued growing for a third consecutive quarter after having fallen into contractionary territory a year ago. Weakness in housing and business investment – both quite sensitive to interest rates – were the first components to lead to slower growth in GDP. In contrast, consumption has remained resilient even despite higher prices and an increase in borrowing costs and hiked 3.7% at a quarterly annualized rate, slightly below the 4.0% expected by the consensus, but increased from a previously recorded 1.0%. Lastly, the GDP´s price index logged a 4.0% increase, which compares to the 3.9% logged in the 4Q22 and 3.7% expected by the consensus. It´s worth pointing out that the larger part of the data considered in the GDP reading was logged before disruptions occurred in the banking sector.