The US economy recorded its sharpest contraction in more than a decade in the third quarter, the US government said today in a report likely to strengthen conviction the nation is in a recession.
Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the country's economic health, shrank at an annual rate of 0.4 per cent in the three months ended in September, the US commerce department said.
Although the department was unable to quantify the impact of the September 11th attacks on GDP, private economists have said disruptions stemming from the tragedy that killed around 4,800 people undoubtedly depressed economic activity.
The third-quarter drop in GDP followed a meagre 0.3 per cent rise in the second quarter. If fourth-quarter GDP comes in negative as expected, the economy would meet the loose definition of a recession - two straight quarters of falling GDP.
But in one potential hint of the economy's resilience, the US economy fared better than economists had expected. Economists in a recent survey had projected a 1 per cent drop.
