NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is expanding at a 0.2 percent annualized rate in the first quarter, based on January data on domestic retail sales, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow forecast model showed on Monday.

The Atlanta Fed’s latest tracking estimate on economic growth was the weakest since April 2016 when it was running at 0.1 percent.

This was slower than the 0.5 percent pace for the first-quarter gross domestic product that the Atlanta Fed’s GDP program calculated on Friday.

The U.S. Commerce Department said earlier Monday retail sales rose 0.2 percent in January, while it adjusted down the drop in December to 1.6 percent from an earlier reported 1.2 percent. The December decline was the steepest one since September 2009.