Between April and June of this year, the U.S. economy shrunk, possibly signalling the beginning of a recession.
According to the Commerce Department, the country’s gross domestic product, which is a gauge of total expenditure on goods and services across the economy, decreased at an annual pace of 0.9 percent on Thursday.
The U.S. may currently be in a recession, which is generally characterised as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
The contraction comes after a 1.6% fall in economic activity in the first three months of the year.
Rising prices and the effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine pose a risk to the year’s remaining economic growth.
The Fed has begun raising interest rates to counteract increasing prices, but the sudden hikes run the danger of stunting growth and destabilising the tight labour market.