“Experts Indicate a Possible US Economic Recession in 2021”

It appears that the US economy is slowing down and may suffer a recession this year, according to experts, economic indicators and major companies.

“It is very likely that the economy will slip into recession by the middle of the year,” said Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former official at the International Monetary Fund.

According to the Commerce Department, gross domestic product, which measures all goods and services produced in the United States, rose at a paltry annual rate of 1.1 percent in the first quarter of this year.

This growth is considered weak, and the numbers did not meet economists’ expectations of a growth of 2 percent.

This represents a significant decrease compared to an increase in the fourth quarter of last year of 2.6 percent.

Lachman told Xinhua that the disappointing GDP report should “not be surprising,” given that the Fed has engaged in the most aggressive cycle of rate hikes in the past 40 years.

The economy had been showing signs of volatile even before the release of the data.

US retail sales fell by 1 percent in March as consumers cut back on car and other expensive purchases — a sign that the economy is slowing. This followed the decline in the previous month.

Meanwhile, weak demand led to lower factory output last month.

Earnings of major companies are also showing signs of a slowdown in the economy.

US trucking giant UPS reported earlier this week that its revenue fell 6 percent in the first quarter, compared to the same period last year.

“In the first quarter, the slowdown in retail sales in the United States resulted in a lower volume than we expected,” the UBS earnings release said.

“Given the current macro conditions, we expect volume to remain under pressure,” the company noted.

Economists have been predicting a recession for more than a year, with many predicting a slight recession. But some argue that the risk of a sharper recession remains.

The current “fragility” of the financial market, Lachman said, could make any recession “more severe than the average postwar recession.”

Economists also warned that the recent bankruptcy of a Silicon Valley bank would hurt medium-sized banks and have a knock-on effect on the broader economy.