With bad news pouring in from retailers and exporters, American economists are scrambling to lower their forecasts for growth in the world's largest economy. 

Winter storms across the country appear to have dealt a final blow to retail sales as cash-strapped consumers stay home, and the US economy is now expected to post its worst performance in at least 27 years – and possibly since the Fifties. 

The crumbling of consumer spending comes on top of a collapse in exports and a sudden downturn in global trade that has caught economists off-guard. Business confidence has taken a dive, and banks, reeling from the credit crisis, have been unwilling to offer the short-term guarantees that grease the wheels of global trade. 

John Lonski, a senior US economist at Moody's Investors Service, said: "Forecasters have long expected an intensification of the credit crisis, but no one thought it would be quite the calamity it has become, or that the resulting decline in the economy would be as rapid and severe as it has been in the final three months of this year." 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/us-economy-posts-worst-results-for-27-years-1210061.html