Wall Street suffers a double blow in Thursday’s session, as softer-than-expected revenue forecasts from Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) are being compounded by weaker-than-expected economic growth and higher inflationary pressures last quarter, raising fears of a stagflation phase for the U.S. economy. The U.S. economy grew by a 1.6% annualized pace in Q1 2024, slowing down sharply from the 3.4% pace in the previous quarter and missing expectations of a growth rate of 2.5%. Inflation, as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index, substantially accelerated from a 1.8% to 3.4% annualized pace, with the underlying measure of core PCE escalating to 3.7%. The elite group of Magnificent Seven stocks wiped out nearly $300 billion in market value earlier this morning, prior to marginally curbing losses by 1 p.m. in New York. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dropped by 1% and 1.2% respectively, while blue chips in the Dow Jones Industrial Average slightly underperformed, declining by 1.4%. Meta Platforms experienced a double-digit decline, pulling down both the tech index and the communication services sector, which ...