U.S. News and World Report (December 30)
“The past two years have defied economists’ predictions for a slowing economy, or even a recession.” Despite increased risk and uncertainty arising from the “wild card of Trump,” the U.S. economy “should remain strong” as it is buoyed by “a moderating labor market, lower interest rates and strong household income.” Household wealth has surged 40% to $150 trillion since 2020, “while debt service payments measured as a percentage of income have largely remained static.”
Tags: Defied, Economy, Household income, Interest rates, Labor market, Predictions, Recession, Risk, Slowing Economy, Trump, U.S., Uncertainty, Wealth Debt service, Wild card
Wall Street Journal (December 14)
“Falling prices in China” are causing havoc “as factories struggle to cope with overcapacity and weak demand.” This is increasing pressure “on Beijing to take more forceful action to prevent a downward spiral of deflation that becomes self-reinforcing, potentially landing China in a longer-term recession.”
Tags: China, Deflation, Downward spiral, Factories, Falling prices, Havoc, Overcapacity, Recession, Self-reinforcing, Struggle, Weak demand
CNN (October 30)
“The US economy seems to have pulled off a remarkable and historic achievement.” James Bullard, the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, is among the “economists and officials who told CNN the economy has finally pulled off” a soft landing. “That scenario, in which inflation is tamed without a recession” would mark “an exceptionally rare achievement.”
Tags: Bullard, Economists, Economy, Fed, Historic, Inflation, Officials, Rare, Recession, Remarkable, Soft landing, St. Louis, Tamed, U.S.
Financial Times (October 10)
“Germany is facing its first two-year recession since the early 2000s as the government downgraded its 2024 growth forecast for the eurozone’s largest economy.” Hurdles have included “soaring inflation, high interest rates and energy costs driven higher by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” along with longer term “structural problems, such as Germany’s dire skills shortage, years of under-investment in infrastructure and excessive red tape.”
Tags: Economy, Energy costs, eurozone, Germany, Growth forecast, Hurdles, Inflation, Infrastructure, Interest rates, Recession, Russia, Skills shortage, Structural problems, Ukraine, Under-investment
Fortune (September 30)
Hedge fund veteran Mark Spitznagel “previously said markets would rally as the Fed eases in a Goldilocks phase, but has also warned a recession is coming and that rate cuts are also the opening signal for big reversals down the line. In the current environment, that means in the biggest market bubble in history will soon pop, eventually prompting the Fed to ‘do something heroic’ but doom the economy to stagflation.”
Tags: Bubble, Doom, Economy, Fed, Goldilocks phase, Hedge-fund, Markets, Rally, Rate cuts, Recession, Reversals, Spitznagel, Veteran
Washington Post (July 9)
The Sahm Rule is considered “the best available recession indicator.” From its nadir, the unemployment rate has risen nearly half a percentage point, which is the rule’s threshold signifying a new recession. “This indicator is flashing a warning sign for the United States. It doesn’t indicate a recession will definitely happen soon, but it is an important wake-up call, and the Federal Reserve needs to pay attention.”
Tags: Attention spans, Fed, Indicator, Nadir, Recession, Sahm Rule, U.S., Unemployment rate, Wake-up call, Warning sign
Wall Street Journal (June 8-9)
“The recession, predicted by business executives, economists, and investors, refuses to show up. Steady hiring continues to fuel consumer spending and, in turn, an economic expansion unlike any the U.S. has seen. Employers added 2.75 million jobs over the last 12 months,” with an unemployment rate “at or below 4% for 30 months, something that last occurred during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and the Korean War in the early 1950s.”
Tags: Consumer spending, Economic expansion, Economists, Employers, Executives, Hiring, Investors, Predicted, Recession, U.S., Unemployment rate
Fortune (May 6)
“Last year’s consensus was that the U.S. economy was headed for a recession, but that didn’t happen. This year’s consensus is that we’ll have a soft landing, in which the economy slows but won’t tip into a recession.” But contrarians like Andrew Hollenhorst, Citi’s chief U.S. economist, believe “a hard landing” is now imminent.
Tags: Citi, Consensus, Contrarians, Economist, Economy, Hard landing, Hollenhorst, Imminent, Recession, Slows, Soft landing, U.S.
The Guardian (March 13)
“The early signals show that the UK is on track to emerge from a minor recession within months, powered by a recovery in consumer spending amid resilient pay growth and receding inflation. But that isn’t to say the economy is racing ahead, or that a renaissance in living standards awaits…. The broader picture is still one of relative stagnation.”
Tags: Consumer spending, Economy, Emerge, Pay growth, Receding inflation, Recession, Recovery, Resilient, Signals, Stagnation, UK
Reuters (February 15)
“Japan’s journey back to normality has just taken an unwelcome turn. The world’s third-largest economy in U.S. dollar terms ceded the title to Germany on Thursday” as Japan simultaneously slipped into a recession. “More unnerving is a slew of weak data making it harder for the Bank of Japan to justify hiking rates and officially ending its era of ultra-easy monetary policy.”
Tags: BOJ, Economy, Germany, Japan, Monetary policy, Normality, Rates, Recession, Third-largest, U.S., Unnerving, Uultra-easy, Weak data