US GDP tracker update lowered to 3.4% - Nomura

Analysts at Nomura offered a GDP tracking update.

• Fed's Kaplan: Baseline view is still three rate hikes for 2017
• US: Atlanta Fed's GDP forecast for Q2 at 3.6% on May 9, down from 4.2% on May 4.

Key Quotes:

"Wholesale inventories for February and March were revised. On net, wholesale inventory accumulation in Q1 was stronger than the BEA had assumed in its advance estimate. As a result, our Q1 GDP tracking estimate was revised upwards by 0.2pp to 0.7% from 0.5% previously. On the other hand, more stock build-up in the previous quarter leads to less output in the current quarter. Thus, we lowered our Q2 GDP tracking estimate by 0.1pp to 3.4% from 3.5%."