U.S. economy shrinks 4.8% amid pandemic, worst contraction in 11 yrs

The U.S. economy contracted an annualized real 4.8 percent in the January to March period due to the coronavirus pandemic, marking the biggest quarterly drop since the 2008 global financial crisis, data from the Commerce Department showed Wednesday.The contraction in terms of inflation-adjusted gross domestic product brought an end to the country's longest economic expansion, which had continued for a decade. In the preceding quarter, GDP grew 2.1 percent.The result for the reporting quarter was worse than the average market forecast of a decrease of 4.0 percent. Nonetheless, it only reflec…READ FULL ARTICLE