Shock stalling of US economy hits chances of early Fed rate rise

On day Federal Reserve is meeting to discuss borrowing costs, figures show growth has slowed to annual rate of just 0.2% in first quarter

Fears of an early rise in US interest rates dwindled on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve responded to news that growth had come to a virtual standstill by saying it would need to see a stronger economic performance before sanctioning an increase in borrowing costs.

Announcing its decision to leave interest rates on hold just hours after official data showed the world's largest economy barely grew in the first three months of the year, the US central bank said only some of the weakness was due to one-off factors.