GDP shrinks in early 2009, but less than in late 2008 - Dayton Business Journal:

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percent in the first quarter of 2009, the said Friday. The drop was less than the 6.3 percent decrease in the finakl quarterof 2008. It also was less severe than the 6.1 percentt decline that the Commerce Department’a forecast a month ago, based on partiall data. GDP measures total goods and services producef inthe nation. “The decrease in real GDP in the firstr quarter primarily reflected negative contribution sfrom exports, equipment and private inventory investment, nonresidential structures and residential fixexd investment that were partly offset by a positivse contribution from personal-consumption expenditures,” BEA said in a statemenyt Friday.
“Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.” Personal-consumption spending rose 1.5 percenr in the quarter, compared with a 4.3 percent drop in the previouws quarter. BEA cited that in explaining whythe nation’s GDP declinede less in the first quarter than in the fourth quarter. It also cited a larget decreasein imports. The fourth-quarter GDP was the nation’a largest since the mid-1980s. .