Equities push to new highs even as US GDP tumbles in Q1

Market consensus was expecting US GDP to grow modestly by 0.1% in the first quarter and so the news of a minus 1% drop came as somewhat of a surprise.  However, expectations were already curtailed owing to the severe winter weather and the main reason for the fall was a bigger than expected reduction in inventories which would’ve dampened production demand.  As this will likely bounce back in the second quarter, the equities in London and New York  moved back towards the highs and bond yields fell to new 10-month lows ahead of the key ECB meeting next week which appears to have galvanised market attention.