leftchick
02-06-2008, 06:28 AM
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/05/news/economy/recession/index.htm
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A growing number of top economists believe that the U.S. economy has now toppled into recession.
Alarm bells were set off Tuesday by a grim report on service businesses, which make up the majority of the U.S. economy.
The Institute of Supply Management said that activity in the service sector declined for the first time in nearly five years. This report also indicated that employers are cutting staff.
The survey covers the retail, transportation and health care industries as well as hard hit areas such as finance, real estate and construction.
Some economists argued that the normally low-profile ISM services reading, coupled with the government's report Friday showing the first monthly net loss in jobs in more than four years, is proof that recession is now a reality.
"My forecast had been that the recession would begin this quarter, but the hard data wasn't there yet," said Keith Hembre, chief economist of First American Funds. "But now we're seeing that. The service sector is a much larger component of the economy [than manufacturing] and this is very much a recession reading."
The National Bureau of Economic Research is the official arbiter of whether the economy has entered recession. But the NBER typically does not declare a recession until well after one has begun.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A growing number of top economists believe that the U.S. economy has now toppled into recession.
Alarm bells were set off Tuesday by a grim report on service businesses, which make up the majority of the U.S. economy.
The Institute of Supply Management said that activity in the service sector declined for the first time in nearly five years. This report also indicated that employers are cutting staff.
The survey covers the retail, transportation and health care industries as well as hard hit areas such as finance, real estate and construction.
Some economists argued that the normally low-profile ISM services reading, coupled with the government's report Friday showing the first monthly net loss in jobs in more than four years, is proof that recession is now a reality.
"My forecast had been that the recession would begin this quarter, but the hard data wasn't there yet," said Keith Hembre, chief economist of First American Funds. "But now we're seeing that. The service sector is a much larger component of the economy [than manufacturing] and this is very much a recession reading."
The National Bureau of Economic Research is the official arbiter of whether the economy has entered recession. But the NBER typically does not declare a recession until well after one has begun.