Are we headed for a recession?

Economic forecasters are wrestling with contradictory data about the health of the economy

Is the economy about to take a turn for the worst?
(Image credit: 2/Simon Fell/Ocean/Corbis)

The smartest insight and analysis, from all perspectives, rounded up from around the web:

"Talk of a downturn is in the air," said Peter Coy at Bloomberg. After U.S. stocks kicked off 2016 with their worst two-week start ever, "people who ordinarily ignore economic forecasters are eager for whatever intelligence they can glean." Unfortunately, the data is more contradictory than clear. Market bears point to oil prices that have plunged below $30 a barrel, a strong dollar that's weighing down U.S. exports, and declining corporate profits as reasons to worry. Then there's China, where slowing economic growth has driven domestic stock prices down 40 percent since June. Market bulls counter that the U.S. economy has added more than eight million jobs in the past three years, Americans have less debt, and cheap oil is putting more money in consumers' pockets. Most economists are also confident the economy will keep growing. "Then again, those soothsayers weren't predicting a recession at the start of 2008, either."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us