The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow model had, up until the Feb. 28 update, been forecasting growth between 2-4% in line with most other models. A graph on the GDPNow page lists the "Blue Chip Consensus" average of the top 10 and bottom 10 forecasts at a slight tick more than 2% U.S. GDP growth for Q1 2025.

The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model on Friday lowered its forecast for the U.S. economy to a contraction at a 1.5% annual rate. This would be the first quarterly contraction in the economy since the first quarter of 2022.

The central bank's GDPNow tracker of incoming metrics is indicating that gross domestic product is on pace to shrink by 1.5%.