The U.S. recession may be easing, but the economy has not hit bottom yet and mounting unemployment looks likely to keep demand sluggish for a while.
A slew of recent data — including stronger-than-expected reports on orders for big-ticket manufactured goods, housing and retail sales — has led many economists to declare that the worst of the 15-month, housing-led recession is over.
While the economy still appears on a downward path, the slope is not as steep as many had feared.
“We have seen in the last few weeks enough meaningful indicators that show the economic contraction has slowed,” said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist the Economic Outlook Group in Princeton, New Jersey.
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As an assertion of government control over a huge swath of the industrial landscape, President Obama’s decision to reshape the automobile industry has few precedents.
Only 70 days old, the Obama administration has acted boldly and swiftly on the severe economic and financial crisis that it inherited. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed just after Inauguration Day, will inject nearly $600 billion of stimulus money into our economy over the next 16 months. The president’s housing and foreclosure initiative already has produced record-low mortgage rates and a burst of refinancing. And Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have launched the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF, initiative to restart consumer loans and the Public Private Investment Partnership to attack the toxic asset problem. This adds up to a dynamic start.
This week’s London Summit brings together the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economic powers, known as the Group of 20, to discuss the global financial crisis and decide new measures to set the world on a more stable economic footing.