R-Word For U.S. Economy in 2013 is Rebound Not Recession
By Rich Miller - Jan 31, 2013 12:01 AM ET ..
The “R” word that economists were using after yesterday’s news that U.S. gross domestic product contracted in the fourth quarter was rebound, not recession.
The economy will bounce back in the current quarter after plunging defense spending and dwindling inventory growth swamped gains for consumers and businesses in the final three months of 2012, according to economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley. Businesses probably will rebuild stockpiles while consumers and companies keep on spending.
It would be a mistake to view this drop in GDP -- driven by temporary corrections in defense spending and inventories -- as a possible harbinger of recession,” Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, said in an e-mail. “We expect GDP growth to rebound to around 2 percent in the first quarter.”
The expansion will stay on course thanks to a “mounting” housing recovery, a steadily improving job market and reviving demand for U.S. exports, said Mark Zandi, chief economist in West Chester, Pennsylvania, for Moody’s Analytics Inc. He sees GDP expanding 2.1 percent in 2013, after rising 2.2 percent last year.
The 0.1 percent decline in output in the final three months of the year was the economy’s worst performance since the second quarter of 2009, when the U.S. was still mired in a recession, according to figures from the Commerce Department in Washington. It followed a 3.1 percent annualized pace in the third quarter.
more@ Bloomberg.com
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