The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced an Advance Q2 GDP reading of -1.0% representing the first time since record-keeping began in 1947 that the economy has contracted in four consecutive quarters.
What's worse is that the Bureau revised Q1 GDP from -5.5% down to -6.4% making it the worst quarter of data for the current recession. The Q2 numbers were improved by smaller decreases in business investment, exports and housing. The greatest impact was the massive 11% increase in government spending. Offsetting the improvements was further declines in consumer spending caused by an increase in the national savings rate from 4% to 5.2%, a good sign for the long-term health of the US consumer.
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/2009/pdf/gdp2q09_adv_fax.pdf
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