Stocks turned lower today as investors worried that the U.S. economy, though perhaps not as troubled as feared in late 2008, is only getting worse, according to AP. The Commerce Department said gross domestic product, the widely followed measure of the economy, shrank at a 3.8 percent pace in the final three months of the year. That compared with a 0.5 percent decline in the previous quarter. Today's reading was much better than the 5.4 percent drop economists expected. Still, the figure could be revised lower in the months ahead _ and some analysts believe the economy has been contracting in early 2009 at an even faster pace. Earnings reports have been disappointing, and layoffs have been piling up. «GDP is a backward-looking piece of information,» said Craig Peckham, market strategist at Jefferies & Co. «It's hard to pinpoint a highly convincing case that the economic and earnings picture will improve.»
