GDP Contracts 3.8%

The US economy contracted at a 3.8% annualized rate in the fourth quarter, a decline that would have been worse except that the Commerce Dept counts an unwanted buildup of goods on store shelves as growth. A clearer picture of the scope emerges if the inventory buildup is excluded. Adjusted GDP contracted at a 5.1% pace in the final three months of 2008, the weakest since 1981. Even with inventories, the performance is the worst since 1982.