Economy Grow 0.6%, Worst Year Since 2002

The economy nearly stalled in the fourth quarter with a growth rate of just 0.6 percent, capping its worst year since 2002. Wednesday's Commerce department report showed that the economy deteriorated considerably during the October to December quarter as worsening problems in the housing market and harder to get credit made individuals and businesses more cautious in their spending. Fears of a recession have grown, even as inflation remained elevated. For all of 2007, the economy grew by just 2.2 percent, the weakest performance in five years, when the country was struggling to recover from the 2001 recession.