U.S. economy grew at a 6.5% rate last quarter, missing expectations

The U.S. economy grew at an annualized 6.5% rate last quarter, the government said Thursday — slower than the 8.4% economists expected.

Why it matters: It came as the economy made strides toward further reopening, vaccinations rolled out and government stimulus bolstered spending. But supply crunches held the pace of growth back.

Worth noting: The economy is bigger now than it was before the pandemic, officially recovering from its pandemic-induced plunge. (But output is still less than where it could have been, had there been no pandemic.)

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