US Economy Contracts

Not that we need any more evidence that we are in a recession, but the most definitive metric- if the economy produced less than before- tilts in that direction as well.

Gross domestic product contracted at a 0.3 percent annual pace, less than forecast, a Commerce Department report showed today in Washington. The last major economic data before the election also showed that a record two-decade consumer spending boom ended last quarter as the credit crunch deepened

Note that this is Q3 data. Given the sheer financial clusterfuck that has been Q4 and the resulting financial dislocation that dried up capital, it's hard for me to imagine that Q4 would fare much better. The standard definition of 2 consecutive negative growth, which seems pretty probable right now, will I think be sufficient for NBER to declare this period a trough.