The U.S. economy shrank between April and June of this year, a sign the U.S. may be teetering on the edge of a recession.
The nation’s gross domestic product, a measure of total spending on goods and services across the economy, fell at an annual rate of 0.9%, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
The contraction follows a 1.6% decline in economic activity in the first three months of the year and means the U.S. could currently be in a recession, which is broadly defined as two straight quarters of negative growth.
Surging inflation and the fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine threaten to keep dampen economic growth for the rest of the year. The Fed has been hiking interest rates as it combats rising prices, but the sharp increases risk cutting off growth and destabilizing the job market, which has remained tight.
This is a developing story and will be updated.