Economy in U.S. Vulnerable With GDP Short of Pre-Recession Peak

The world’s largest economy has yet to regain the ground it lost during the recession and may be vulnerable to a relapse.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 1.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter, after a 0.4 percent pace in the prior period, the worst six months since the recovery began in June 2009, Commerce Department figures showed yesterday. Economists said the slowdown leaves the recovery susceptible to being knocked off course by shocks at home or abroad.