WASHINGTON - THE US economy shrank at its fastest pace in nearly 27 years in the fourth quarter, government data showed, sinking deeper into recession as consumers and business cut spending.
The Commerce Department on Friday said gross domestic product, which measures total goods and services output within US borders, plummeted at a 3.8 per cent annual rate, the lowest pace since the first quarter of 1982, when output contracted 6.4 per cent. GDP fell 0.5 per cent in the third quarter.
