STEVE INSKEEP, host:
NPR's business news starts with sluggish growth for the economy.
The Commerce Department says economic growth almost stopped this quarter. The gross domestic product increased at the slowest pace in more than four years. The economy's underperformance is mostly due to the housing slump that we've been hearing so much about that's made some businesses more cautious about spending and about investing. But most economists forecast a rebound, not a recession, and that is partly because of a healthy job market, which means the consumers have more money to spend.
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