The US gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, posted a quarterly drop for the first time in six years, says the Commerce Department. 

A worker delivers groceries at Masbia Soup Kitchen to help those in need during the Coronavirus crisis on April 20, 2020 in the Brooklyn Borough of New York City. (Photo: AFP)

The 4.8% drop in the first quarter at an annual rate was the sharpest fall since the economy shrank at an 8.4% annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2008 in the depths of the Great Recession.