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U.S. Markets

Barclays pares U.S. first quarter GDP growth view to 2.0 percent

FILE PHOTO: Shoppers carry bags of purchased merchandise at the King of Prussia Mall, United States' largest retail shopping space, in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, U.S., December 8, 2018. REUTERS/Mark Makela

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barclays economists on Monday revised lower their projection on U.S. economic growth in the first quarter to 2.0 percent from a prior estimate of 2.5 percent following the release of the government’s retail sales report for January.

“The January retail sales report was a touch better than expectations,” they wrote in a research note. “However, further downward revisions to December’s data came as a surprise to us, and point to a slower momentum in consumption spending heading into Q1.”

Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

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