semitrucks line up near pier j to retrieve shipping containers from chinabased ship at the port of long beach in long beach california us april 4 2018 reutersbob riha jr washington april 28 reuters breakingviews  an annualized 14 fall in us gdp in the first quarter sounds pretty grim but the us economy may be taking one step backwards to take two forward the pandemic has caused wild swings in the economy gdp contracted 31 in the second quarter of 2020 only to then expand by nearly 34 the next three months the first quarter of 2022 was also mired by economic abnormalities supply chain disruptions read more and russia’s invasion of ukraine spurred businesses to stock up on supplies and that caused the goods trade deficit to jump nearly 18 to a record high 1253 billion in march according to the commerce department that dents gdp but inventories also rose as a result so companies are whipping up their warehouses so they can sell more goods in coming months assuming the supply chain issues don’t clear up meanwhile consumer spending increased 27 while business investment grew at a robust 92 all of that suggests the decline reported thursday wasn’t so bad by gina chon uk insurance reforms are now even riskier read more lg energy solution sputters at the starting line read more aveva owner schneider may run out of patience read more