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The US economy suffered its sharpest downturn since at least the 1940s in the second quarter, highlighting how the pandemic has ravaged businesses across the country and left millions of Americans out of work.

Gross domestic product shrank 9,5 percent in the second quarter from the first, a drop that equals an annualised pace of 32,9 percent, the Commerce Department’s initial estimate showed yesterday.

That’s the steepest annualised decline in quarterly records dating back to 1947 and compares with analyst estimates for a 34,5 percent contraction.

Personal spending, which makes up about two-thirds of GDP, slumped an annualised 34,6 percent, also the most on record.

The figures lay bare the extent of the economic devastation that resulted from the government-ordered shut-downs and stay-at-home orders designed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus that abruptly brought a halt to the longest-running expansion. — Bloomberg.