pib us attendu a -5.5 !!! acceleration de la baisse

The world’s largest economy may contract at about a 5.5 percent annual pace this quarter after declining at a 3.8 percent rate in the last three months of 2008, according to a forecast by economists at Morgan Stanley in New York. Last quarter’s drop was the biggest since 1982.

Consumer spending is set to contract again in the current quarter, economists forecast, after falling in the second half of 2008. Purchases haven’t decreased for three consecutive quarters since records began in 1947.