Italy’s economy shrank less than forecast in the three months through September, a fifth quarterly decline that extended the country’s fourth recession since 2001 into a second year. Gross domestic product declined 0.2 percent from the second quarter when it decreased a revised 0.7 percent, the National Statistics Institute Istat said in a preliminary report today. The decline was less than the median forecast of 0.5 percent in a survey of 21 economists by Bloomberg News. From a year earlier, economic activity shrank 2.4 percent, Istat said. With export gains failing to offset the effect of weak domestic demand, the ... (full story)