A contraction is the phase of the business cycle when the economy declines, often with falling real GDP and rising unemployment, moving from peak toward trough (expansion, peak, contraction, trough).

As far as economic events go, true depressions are rare. Over the last century, the Great Depression of the 1930s was the only economic downturn in the U.S. that earned the distinction of being ...

President Trump's new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China have unsettled both domestic and international markets, concerning investors and manufacturers. This emerging global trade war has raised ...