THE ECONOMY

The current account deficit--the broadest measure of U.S. trade activity--swelled last year by $78.23 billion to a record high of $233.45 billion, the Commerce Department reported, as exports sagged in the midst of a sharp slowdown in the global economy. That smashed the previous record of $168 billion set in 1987. The gap had narrowed in the final three months of the year, however, for the first quarterly drop in a year and a half. It totaled $63.77 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $65.69 billion in the third quarter. Some of the current account improvement toward the end of the year resulted from a huge inflow of capital into U.S. stock and bond markets as nervous global investors fled turbulence elsewhere and sought a safe haven in the United States.