We're going to start with some breaking news.

New data coming out just as we come on the air shows that the U.S. economy shrank for the first time in three years.

GDP down, 0.3 percent.

Contraction. We haven't seen that since 2022.

Last week, a lot of economic data came out, and the headlines seemed to highlight a bunch of declining numbers.

The fact that we have a decrease in growth, that is never good.

How people feel about the future of the economy and their finances, lowest level since 2011.

Wall Street is now looking at this and thinking,

are we heading for that recession that many...

But our colleague, Gene Waylon, who covers the economy,

sees those numbers a little differently.

Despite all of these shocks happening to the economy with tariffs, with Doge and the government cuts,

the underlying economy has remained fairly strong.

And if you had to summarize what's happening with the U.S. economy right now, in one word,

what would that word be?

I have two words. Two words is good. Holding steady. Holding steady. Why? Why is that?

There were a couple of data reports last week that showed that the economy is holding in and is

more stable than many thought.

Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power.

I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Tuesday, May 6th.

Coming up on the show, what exactly is going on with the U.S. economy?

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