Long a heavy drinker, Smith was aging visibly, and these live shows hinted at the final decline.

NEWYORKER: Plug and Play

But the figures for the final quarter of last year actually show a decline for the first time in nearly four years for the OECD as a whole - which is nearly all the rich countries and a few of the more developed emerging economies.

BBC: OECD economies in 0.2% quarterly decline

Industrial demand then slumped in the final three months of the year, resulting in a decline for full-year 2011.

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The sessions gave clues to the final provisions of the bill, which added to a sharp decline in financial shares.

WSJ: Inside Capitol, Investor Access Yields Rich Tips

If the currency were forced to appreciate, the costs of those inputs would decline, reducing the cost of production and the cost of final goods to U.S. consumers.

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Monday's unexpected decline in reported growth from 7.9 percent in the final quarter of 2012 was severe enough that economists responded by cutting their growth outlook for China this year.

NPR: China's Struggle To Measure Economy Clouds Outlook

The investment banking division, which is the motor of the group's business, posted a 57% decline in pre-tax profit to 447m euros in the final quarter, thanks to a sagging demand for debt products.

BBC: Deutsche Bank chairman Josef Ackermann is optimistic

In the final hour of trading, shares looked set to notch their second-biggest decline of the year but recovered from their worst levels of day shortly before the close.

WSJ: Dow Sheds 111 Points

There was a small amount of growth in the final quarter of 2011, up by 0.1%, whereas it had been thought to decline by 0.4%.

BBC: Scotland business