U.S. GDP decreased at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008

Latest Measure of the Nation's Economy, Q4 GDP down 3.8 percent, biggest drop since 1982

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the market value of the entire nation’s goods and services produced by labor and property in the United States. (Gross Domestic Product News Release)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT: FOURTH QUARTER 2008 (ADVANCE)

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- decreased at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, (that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP decreased 0.5 percent.

China GDP shows slowdown

China GDP shows slowdown
(01:43) Reuters Video Report

Jan 22 - Fresh economic data shows China's economy slowing down dramatically, while officials say stability is the top priority for a bleak 2009.
Although authorities said the slowdown was only temporary, it did snap a five-year streak of double-digit growth that has turned China into the third-largest economy in 2008 after the United States and Japan.

China raises '07 economic growth, passing Germany

China raises '07 economic growth, passing Germany
China passes Germany to become world's 3rd-largest economy after 2007 GDP revision

BEIJING (AP) -- China surpassed Germany to become the world's third-largest economy behind the United States and Japan after Beijing on Wednesday raised its estimate of economic growth in 2007.
The status is symbolic -- China's 1.3 billion people are, on average, among the world's poorest -- but reflects the country's explosive growth as it became the world's factory and a trading power over 30 years of economic reform.
The government revised its estimate of 2007 economic growth from an already high 11.9 percent to an eye-popping 13 percent, the fastest rate since 1994.
That raised China's gross domestic product to 25.7 trillion yuan, or $3.5 trillion at 2007 exchange rates, the national statistics agency said. That would be ahead of Germany's 2007 GDP of 2.4 trillion euros, or $3.3 trillion at an exchange rate produced by averaging rates on the 15th of each month during that year. Based on only Dec. 31, 2007, exchange rates, China was slightly behind Germany but would have passed it early last year.