US consumer spending
dropped 1 per cent in December, a record sixth straight monthly decline and
rounding out the country's worst year for consumers since 1961, the Commerce
Department said Monday, dpa reported.
The drop from a month at an annual rate was larger than economists had
predicted, according to Bloomberg News, and compared to a revised 0.8-per-cent
drop in November.
Many consumers have turned to saving in the last few months as the United States, the world's largest economy, grapples with a serious recession that began in
December 2007. The US economy shrank 3.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of last
year, the largest quarterly drop in 27 years.
For the whole of 2008, consumer spending climbed 3.6 per cent, the smallest
increase since 1961.
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