While you were sleeping Surprise drop in US GDP

While you were sleeping Surprise drop in US GDP
By Margreet Dietz Jan 31 (BusinessDesk) - Wall Street slid after a report showed a surprise contraction in the US economy in the final quarter of 2012. Gross domestic product fell at a 0.1 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, after growing at a 3.1 percent pace in the third quarter, according to Commerce Department data. Polls of economists by both Bloomberg News and Reuters had predicted a 1.1 percent increase. It was the weakest showing since the second quarter of 2009. Still, the underlying data were positive, economists said. “I’m...