US Economy Contracts 32.9% In June Quarter, Wall Street Crashes

The US economy contracted by a massive 32.9 per cent annualised rate in the April-June quarter. News agency Reuters reported that the decline is the steepest since the Great Depression. The drop in gross domestic product (GDP) was more than triple the previous all-time decline of 10 per cent in the second quarter of 1958, according to Reuters. The US economy had slipped into recession and contracted by 5 per cent in the first quarter (January-March) too. The US follows a January-December financial calendar.

Meanwhile, the US markets took a beating in Thursday's early trade as well. At 7:40 IST, Dow Jones was down nearly 500 points, or 1.85 per cent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices were also down 1.31 per cent and 0.80 per cent, respectively.

According to Reuters, the bulk of the historic plunge in GDP reported by the Commerce Department on Thursday occurred in April when activity almost ground to an abrupt halt after restaurants, bars and factories among others were shuttered in mid-March to slow the spread of coronavirus.