The economy shrank a bit less than first estimated in the fourth quarter, but the revised data released by the government Thursday offer little good news and only underscore an increasingly grim picture.
Export demand has collapsed, corporate profits are sinking into losses, and job losses are accelerating nationwide amid the steepest slump since the end of World War II.
Analysts say the downturn — and the way companies are responding to it — have combined to create a new kind of recession that's swifter and deeper than ever before.