In news that was hardly surprising, the U.S. economy shrank at a 4.8 percent annual rate in the first quarter of the year as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, ending the nation’s longest economic expansion, the Commerce Department said today.
According to a report published by the Associated Press, the drop in gross domestic product was the sharpest fall since the economy shrank at an 8.4 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2008.
GDP, the total output of goods and services, is expected to drop by as much as 40 percent in the second quarter because the economic shutdown continued into April and businesses will open slowly in May and June as stay-at-home orders are gradually lifted.
