03/19/2019

The Biggest Risks To Economic Growth This Year

Economists are skeptical about ongoing growth

In recent days, the U.S. economy has been sending off some mixed signals.

Inflation is tame, while the unemployment rate is close to a 50-year low. Growth in the U.S. was close to a solid 3 percent in 2018, and the economy looks set to reach its longest expansion on record come midyear. But those bragging points have been matched with an equal amount of uncertainty.

Employers in February added the fewest amount of new positions to their payrolls since September 2017, signaling that hiring might have peaked, the Labor Department reported last week. Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales in December plunged by the most in nearly a decade and were revised down even more on Monday, questioning the confidence of the American consumer. Global concerns such as Brexit, trade frictions and slowing growth in Europe and China are also threatening to pull the brakes.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Bankrate.