The world's two biggest economies have slapped tariffs on $350 billion worth of each other's products
The unemployment rate remained at 3.8%
Roughly 70% of all economic activity comes from consumers
The weak gain followed a 0.6% plunge in December
The downward revision did not affect the annual growth rate for all of 2018, which remained at 2.9%
The Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to 124.1 in March from 131.4 in February
Housing starts slumped to 8.7% in February
The inversion is an early warning sign of potential recession
Officials expect economic growth of just 2.1% this year, down from the previous projection of 2.3%.
On Wednesday, analysts expect a scaled back projection from two interest rate hikes this year to one — or none at all