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Commerce Department: U.S. Economy Contracted In First Quarter

Clothing is offered on sale at a department store in Manhattan on March 12, 2015 in New York City. For a third straight month in February U.S. retail sales unexpectedly fell according to a report by the Commerce Department released on Thursday. The report said that retail sales dropped 0.6 percent, with receipts falling in almost all categories. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Clothing is offered on sale at a department store in Manhattan on March 12, 2015 in New York City. For a third straight month in February U.S. retail sales unexpectedly fell according to a report by the Commerce Department released on Thursday. The report said that retail sales dropped 0.6 percent, with receipts falling in almost all categories. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter of this year, according to new numbers from the Commerce Department, which reported that the U.S. GDP shrank at a 0.7 percent seasonally-adjusted annual rate in the first quarter.

Bad weather and a strong dollar that hurt U.S. exports are thought to be contributing factors. Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Mike Regan of Bloomberg News about the report, and also about the latest on negotiations over Greece’s debt.

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