WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter, suffering its first decline since the 2007-09 recession as businesses scaled back on restocking and government spending plunged.
Gross domestic product fell at a 0.1 percent annual rate after growing at a 3.1 percent clip in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.
That was the worst performance since the second quarter of 2009, when the recession ended, and showed the economy entering the new year with no momentum.
The contraction, coming against a backdrop of tightening fiscal policy, could spur fears of a new recession and create an urgency for policymakers to deal with outstanding budget issues.
http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=OBR&date=20130130&id=16056213
The stock market shows that many large publicly traded companies are doing well. Not that they are hiring or raising pay for employees. They are doing well for their investors and profits are increasing in many of them. I do think there are many positives related to the strong stock market, but the market as a whole needs to turn around. Not just for the investor class. It is great news for many people looking to retire who had their 401K rutted by the recession. For them I am very happy.
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