America’s gross domestic product, the broadest sum of goods and services produced across the economy, shrank at a 0.7% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday. Here’s what economists had to say: “On net, the downward revisions to first-quarter GDP was broadly as expected and it suggested that the U.S. economy was in far weaker shape that the earlier estimate indicated. Nevertheless, given that much of the downward revisions were driven by weaker trade and a smaller inventory build, we interpret this mix of revisions as a net positive for second-quarter GDP accounting, ... (full story)