Recessionary Forces Are Weakening at Home and Abroad

 

Unprecedented monetary and fiscal policy responses to the financial crisis and global recession helped prevent the widely touted doomsday scenario from materializing, and a 1930s-type debacle has been avoided. ?EUR??,,????'??? Photo courtesy of ETF Trends

The strenuous and coordinated policy responses, together with necessary structural corrections in housing and other sectors, have laid the groundwork for recovery in economic output. This should begin to take shape during the second half of the year.

Look for below-trend growth in economic output. National Association of Home Builders expects U.S. real GDP to contract at a 1.2% pace in the current quarter, quite a mild setback by the standards of the two previous quarters, and to expand at an average annual rate of 1.5% for the remainder of 2009. ?EUR??,,????'??? Courtesy of National Association of Home Builders