Double-dip Recession | featured news

Figures released Wednesday provoked an outcry on the day that Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, shifted his rhetoric on the debt crisis.

The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5% in the three months ending Sept. 30, the government reported, easing fears that the nation would fall into a second recession but still too slow a pace to cut significantly into the high unemployment rate.

Stocks got a lift Friday by news that the US economy generated more jobs than anticipated over the past three months, reinforcing hopes that the world's largest economy will not be sliding back into recession. The Labor Department reported that the U.S. added 103,000 jobs in September. That was above expectations for a 60,000 increase. It also revised up the previous two months' figures to show around 90,000 more jobs were created than previously thought.

Chances the United States will lapse into another recession rose over the past month to nearly one in three as the economy faces a number of road blocks that could derail already weak growth, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.

Another recession isn't likely over the next 12 months. Neither is any meaningful improvement in the economy.

Wall Street ended a fourth week of losses on a down note on Friday as most buyers left the market before the weekend on growing fears of another U.S. recession and destabilization in Europe's financial system.

The Federal Reserve Board has promised to keep interest rates at zero until 2013-- an admission that the economy is not expected to rebound for two years-- until the next President is in the White House. This policy step indicates the Fed does not believe the economy will recover either this year or next year. Never before has the central bank made such a policy declaration for as long a period as two years.

Consumers spent more on autos, furniture, clothing and gas in July, pushing up retail sales by the largest amount in four months. The gain signaled that Americans are a little more confident in the economy and could helped dispel fears that the country is headed for another recession....

More than $2.5 trillion have been wiped off the value of world stocks this week on mounting concerns the global economy is heading toward another recession.

A sequel to the Great Recession in the United States just two years after the downturn is not likely because demand for temporary workers, a leading indicator of both upturns and downturns, remains steady, staffing industry executives say.