Stocks are falling early Thursday as investors reacted to news that the U.S. economy shrank for a second consecutive quarter, sharply raising rears that that the U.S. economy is already in or is heading for a recession.
The S&P 500 was down 0.4% as of 10 a.m. Eastern, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 0.6%.
The U.S. economy shrank from April through June, contracting at a 0.9% annual pace. The decline that the Commerce Department reported Thursday in the gross domestic product — the broadest gauge of the economy — followed a 1.6% annual drop from January through March.
