September 29, 2022 8:34am EDT
Final GDP reading shows US economy shrank 0.6% in the spring, cementing start of recession
Economists expected the final GDP reading to be unchanged at 0.6%
By Megan Henney FOXBusiness
The U.S. economy shrank in the spring for the second consecutive quarter, meeting the criteria for a so-called technical recession as raging inflation and higher interest rates weighed on spending.
Gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, shrank by 0.6% on an annualized basis in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said in its third reading of the data on Thursday. That is below the initially reported 0.9% decline and unchanged from the second reading of a 0.6% decline.
Economic output already fell over the first three months of the year, with GDP tumbling 1.6%, the worst performance since the spring of 2020, when the economy was still deep in the throes of the COVID-induced recession.
Recessions are technically defined by two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth and are characterized by high unemployment, low or negative GDP growth, falling income and slowing retail sales, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which tracks downturns.
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https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/final-gdp-reading-shows-us-economy-shrank-spring-cementing-start-recession