US Economy Surges, But Iran Conflict Clouds Outlook

0:00It's April 30th. Welcome to Canada News Today, powered by AI, US economy picked up steam in the first quarter of 2026, growing at a 2% annual rate from January through March. That's a rebound from the sluggish 0.5% expansion in the final three months of 2025, right after that 43 day. Federal government shutdown through things off. Consumption spending and investment jumped 9.3%, boosting growth by more than half a percentage point after dragging it down late. Last year, consumer spending, which drives 70% of the economy, cooled a bit to 1.6% from 1.9%. But business investments surged 8.7%, probably fueled by artificial intelligence pushes. Now the Iran conflict is casting a big shadow. Iran blocked the strait of hormones, choking off a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas, that spiked energy prices, stoking inflation, and hitting wallets hard.

1:01The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady yesterday, pointing to massive uncertainty from the war. Economists are scratching their heads too. One top forecaster said, there's no solid way to predict impacts from this blockade. Nothing like it has happened before. This GDP figure is just the first of three estimates from the Commerce Department. With the war raging, the outlook stays murky, but early signs show resilience amid the chaos.