A clock on the Royal Exchange shows a time of 9:30 a.m. in front of the Bank of England at the momen
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Sobering news for the Bank of England.

A clock on the Royal Exchange shows a time of 9:30 a.m. in front of the Bank of England at the momen
Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Sobering news for the Bank of England.

A 0.4% decline in Britain's gross domestic product in the third quarter means the U.K.'s economy has now shrunk for six consecutive quarters — something that the BBC says hasn't happened since that country began keeping such records in 1955.

The U.K. Office for National Statistics' GDP report is posted here. It says that "the decline in output was due to decreases in all component aggregate series." Translation: All sectors of the U.K. economy remained weak.

Note: That 0.4% drop is not an "annual rate," as quarterly changes in GDP are expressed in the U.S.

NPR's Larry Miller reports from London that analysts had thought GDP grew in the quarter, but flat retail sales and weaker-than-expected results at hotels and restaurants helped bring the economy down:

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