pointing to slower economic growth and persistent inflation (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor)- New York, 25 Apr - US shares were trading sharply lower as investors digested data pointing to slower economic growth and persistent inflation.US gross domestic product grew by 1.6% in the first quarter, down from 3.4% in the previous quarter and well below expectations for growth of 2.5%.

The data also showed consumer prices, excluding volatile energy and food, rose 3.7%, well above the previous quarter's growth rate of 2.0% and expectations for 3.4%.

The reading rekindled concerns over stubborn inflation and cast a cloud over whether the Federal Reserve will be able to cut its interest rates anytime soon.

All eyes now turn to tomorrow's PCE Price Index, the Fed's preferred gauge of inflation, to garner more insight into the scale of inflationary pressure.

Also weighing on the market were earnings from tech giant Meta Platforms released yesterday after market close. Despite reporting record first-quarter revenue, the group raised awareness of the sheer cost of artificial intelligence by warning it might have to spend 10 billion dollars extra this year to build out its AI infrastructure. In trade Meta was down more than 11%.

Microsoft and Alphabet, two other tech giants investing in AI for the future, will report their earnings later today after the market close.

On the stocks front, IBM shares were down more than 8.3% after its results missed expectations and it announced a 6.4 billion dollar deal to buy cloud-software company HashiCorp while shares in car maker Ford were steady after it topped expectations on quarterly earnings.

At 1830 GMT, the Dow Jones was down 454.36 points, or 1.18%, at 37,006.80 points.

The S6P 500 was 40.87 points, or 0.81%, lower at 5,030.76 points.

The Nasdaq was losing 170.41 points, or 1.08%, at 15,542.62 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 25-04-24 19:47:31 (0674) 5 NNNN