Recession Risk Grows After Money Supply Shrinks at Fastest Pace Since Great Depression

Printing Supervisor Donavan Elliott inspects sheets of one dollar bills run through the printing press at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2015. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The U.S. money supply contracted for the third consecutive month, and is declining at the fastest pace since the Great Depression, new Federal Reserve data show.

In February, the M2 money supply—a benchmark for how much cash, bills, bank deposits, coins, and money market funds are circulating throughout the national economy—tumbled 2.24 percent from the same time a year ago, down from negative 1.7 percent in January. This represented the third straight month of a contracting money supply.