Obama adviser sees "less dreary" GDP numbers ahead

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A drop in inventories in the first quarter and a rise in consumer spending could pave the way for "less dreary" figures on U.S. output, a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama said on Wednesday.

"There's perhaps a little bit of a silver lining," Christina Romer, the head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told Reuters Financial Television in reaction to news the U.S. economy contracted at a 6.1 percent annual rate in the first quarter.

"To the degree that that's a sign that firms are bringing down some of their inventories ... that combined with consumers coming back to life could mean we need to start to producing things again," she said. "It could put us in a position for perhaps a less dreary number going forward."

(Reporting by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)