AI Investment Boosts U.S. Economic Growth

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Pierre Bienaimé· Host0:06

[calm music] Here's your midday brief for Thursday, April thirtieth. I'm Pierre Bienaimé for the Wall Street Journal. The US economy grew at a two percent rate in the first quarter, supported by businesses' big investments in artificial intelligence. It was a rebound from the fourth quarter when the government shutdown dented growth. At the same time, the economy from January to March didn't expand as fast as economists expected. Consumer spending growth is the main engine of the economy, and it softened to a one point six percent growth rate. And in other data from the Commerce Department, the personal consumption expenditures price index climbed by point seven percent in March. That's largely because the war in Iran is driving up energy prices. This index is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation. It's run above the central bank's target for years, and Fed policymakers are now skeptical of resuming interest rate cuts. Eli Lilly is reporting that sales of its weight loss shots fueled massive revenue and profit growth in the first quarter. Lilly is the company behind Mounjaro and Zepbound. Sales overall rose fifty-six percent to nineteen point eight billion dollars, an unusually high rate of growth for a big, established pharmaceutical company, and profit more than doubled to seven point four billion dollars. The results blew past Wall Street expectations, and Lilly raised its forecast for the year. Heads up, an artificial intelligence tool helped us make