6 charts illustrate why the Fed is willing to overlook the economy's ugly quarter

Charles Rex Arbogast/APFederal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen smiles before addressing the Executives' Club of Chicago,wld Friday, March 3, 2017, in Chicago.The Federal Reserve is looking past the economy's weak first quarter and has signaled that it will continue raising interest rates as planned.

Its policy statement on Wednesday said the Federal Open Markets Committee "views the slowing in growth during the first quarter as likely to be transitory."

The advance release of first-quarter gross domestic product showed the economy grew by 0.7%, its slowest pace in three years. The increase in consumer spending, the largest contributor to growth, was at the lowest since 2009, at 0.3%.

"Household spending rose only modestly, but the fundamentals underpinning the continued growth of consumption remained solid," the statement added.

According to the Fed, near-term risks to the economy are "roughly balanced," meaning extended weakness is possible. However, these charts show why the Fed considers the first-quarter slowdown as temporary: