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The US economy grew much faster than expected in the first quarter of the year, helped by a jump in exports and by firms building up stocks of goods.

The growth figures - which are subject to revision in the months ahead - appeared to dispel any fears of an economic slowdown.

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross welcomed the data, saying: The Trump economy has repeatedly defied the sceptics who predicted an economic downturn and has restored America's position in the world as a consistent source of economic growth.

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Trade helped to boost growth in the first quarter, as exports rose while imports fell. Companies also built up inventories of goods at the fastest rate since the second quarter of 2015.

However, consumer spending, which drives about two-thirds of economic activity in the US, grew by only 1.2% in the first quarter, down from a rate of 2.5% previously.

The growth figure was quite a surprise and it certainly defuses some of the warnings about a possible recession in the US.

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There were, however, some features of the figures that suggest the headline growth rate is a little flattering. The acceleration owed something to companies building up their stocks of goods. That is a process that won't go on indefinitely, not at the same rate.

There was also a contribution from government spending and from international trade. The last of these is striking, in the context of the increase in global trade tensions due to a significant extent to the more assertive policies pursued by the Trump administration. Will that be sustained?

Consumer spending is a traditional source of US economic strength. It did grow in this period, but more slowly than before. Spending on goods actually declined, although that was more than offset by services.

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All that said, some observers point out that the first estimate for this quarter tends to be revised upwards. So we could yet end up with an even stronger figure.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump called on the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, claiming that the Fed had really slowed us down in terms of economic growth.

In March, the Fed had indicated that it did not plan to raise interest rates - which currently stand between 2.25% and 2.5% - for the rest of 2019.

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The problem for the Fed now... is that if growth continues at anything like this pace, the labour market will tighten much further this year, and the question of rate hikes will be back on the agenda.

However, Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics, warned that there were plenty of causes for concern behind the headline growth figure.

As well as the boost from trade and inventories, he noted growth was also lifted by government spending on highways and roads.

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So taking out the over-sized boosts from net trade, inventories and highways investment, which will all be reversed in the coming quarters, growth was only around 1.0%, Mr Ashworth says.

Under those circumstances, we continue to expect that overall growth will slow this year, forcing the Fed to begin cutting interest rates before year-end.The US economy suffered its most severe contraction in more than a decade in the first quarter of the year, as the country introduced lockdowns to slow the spread of coronavirus.

The pandemic is causing tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world, policymakers at America's central bank said on Wednesday.

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The US has tried to cushion the economic blow with nearly $3tn (£2.4tn) in new spending, including direct payments to many families. The Federal Reserve has also taken with a slew of emergency steps, including lowering interest rates to near zero.

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the bank would maintain those levels until it was confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track. But he warned that the ongoing crisis would weigh heavily on the economy.

Will there be a need to do more? I would say the answer to that will be a yes, Mr Powell said at a virtual press conference.

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Since mid-March, more than 26 million people in the US have filed for unemployment, and the US has seen historic declines in business activity and consumer confidence. Forecasters expect growth to contract 30% or more in the three months to June.

In China, where restrictions were in place for much of the quarter, the economy shrank by 6.8% - its first quarterly contraction since record-keeping began in 1992.

But by mid April, more than 95% of the country was was in some form of lockdown. Although some states have started to remove the orders, they remain in place in many others, including major economic engines such as New York and California.

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On Tuesday, General Electric said its revenues had fallen 8% in the first quarter, while Boeing - already in crisis after fatal crashes of its 737 Max plane - reported a 48% revenue fall, and said it planned to reduce output and cut jobs.

The coronavirus pandemic is affecting every aspect of our business, including airline customer demand, production continuity and supply chain stability, chief executive Dave Calhoun said.

Despite the widespread warnings, share prices have increased in recent weeks after steep declines earlier in the year. Those gains reflect the Fed's intervention, but not its forecast for the economy, said Seema Shah, chief strategist at Principal Global Investors.

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[Mr Powell] provided a very sobering assessment of the economic impact, acknowledging that this will not just be a short, sharp shock, but a more prolonged event, she said.

With financial markets being backstopped by the Fed for the foreseeable future, they will likely continue to signal a narrative that is very detached from the Fed's own solemn economic assessment.

The Commerce Department on Wednesday said consumer spending - which accounts for about two thirds of the US economy - dropped 7.6% in the first three months of the year.

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Health spending also plunged - despite the virus - as concerns about infection prompted doctors to postpone routine treatments and other medical care.

The economic pain in the US is expected to be even more severe in the April-June period, but economists say even the estimate for the first quarter is likely to be revised lower, as the government receives more data.

It's very difficult to gauge the depth of the decline, Mr Zandi said. We won't really know the extent of the economic damage for years.What a difference a year makes. When the pandemic began, the spoke to some economists to make sense of what was happening to the US economy. We went back to those same experts to see how things played out, and what they're keeping their eye on in the future.

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At the time, they all said they thought the country would fare better than it did the last time it was faced with widespread economic uncertainty, during the 2008 economic recession.

But they also had some worries, about how much the government would intervene and how effective the country's vaccine programme would be.

In a single month, 17 million Americans lost their job, and the gross domestic product (GDP), which is how economists measure the total value of a country's products and services, declined by $2.15tn (£1.55tn).

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And like during the financial crisis, the US government needed to act quickly to avoid further damage, says Todd Knoop, an economist who researches the history of recessions at Cornell College.

When the spoke with Mr Knoop last June, he was hopeful government spending and monetary policy would keep the economy from totally collapsing.

Mr Knoop's prediction was right on the money. Congress passed a series of aid packages worth trillions of dollars. He believes these supports, which included direct payments to Americans and extended unemployment benefits, helped keep many people afloat even when they were out of work.

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While the unemployment rate is still higher than it was pre-pandemic, about 15 million Americans went back to work, which is also good news.

Last June, he likened the pandemic to a hurricane, which wipes out businesses and homes indiscriminately. Pandemic spending is akin to disaster relief, he argued.

But even with government aid, many small businesses have gone under or are struggling, he says, and that will leave a mark on the economy as a whole.

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They don't make the headlines - you've never heard of them, they might be like a two-person operation, but that's some damage, he says.

During the first wave of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders last spring, Mr Knoop says it was clear that industries that relied on in-person customers - like travel and some retail - were going to struggle, while others would more easily adapt to the new normal.

This is really destroying people and it's destroying human systems, in the way we share ideas and technology and interacting with each other, he said at the time.

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The National Restaurant Association says their industry lost $115bn in sales when comparing 2020 sales to 2019, while the aviation industry has received about $55bn in bailout money from the federal government.

The stock market has gone on to reach record highs since that record

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