The US showed signs it was leaving behind a soft start to 2017 as data revealed consumer spending grew at its quickest pace of the year in April, suggesting the world’s biggest economy was shrugging off political turmoil and was again poised to lead global recovery.

Consumer spending is the key driver of the US economy and a slowdown earlier in the year held gross domestic product growth to an annual pace of just 1.2 per cent in the first quarter. The Atlanta Fed said yesterday the stronger data helped its closely followed GDP tracker project second-quarter growth of a robust 3.8 per cent.

“This affirms our view that the US economy will reaccelerate after a winter lull and overall growth will remain firmly in the 2 per cent range in the first half of the year,” Diane Swonk of DS Economics said of the Bureau of Economic Analysis data, which also showed solid gains in personal incomes.