Economics
The U.S. Economy Has a Pulse
Hiring and construction are up, consumers are buying cars
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The U.S. has likely dodged a recession—for now. A string of stronger-than-projected statistics, capped by the news on Oct. 7 of a 103,000 rise in payrolls last month, has prompted economists at Goldman Sachs Group and Macroeconomic Advisers to raise their forecasts for third-quarter growth to 2.5 percent from about 2 percent. That’s nearly double the second quarter’s 1.3 percent rate and would be the fastest in a year.
“The U.S. economy doesn’t look like it’s double-dipping at all,” says Allen Sinai, chief executive officer of Decision Economics in New York. “But it is a crummy recovery.” Hazards ranging from Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis to budget gridlock in the U.S. could still kill the momentum.