recession

According to the quarterly survey by the Nielsen Company global consumer confidence declined in the second quarter to the lowest level since the second half of 2009, the height of the global economic downturn. In the United States consumer sentiment was weaker than one and a half year ago.

The survey reveals that consumers across the globe continue tightening their belts and plan to cut their expenses on different luxuries and extra things.

According to an investment expert China is going to suffer recession irrespective of whether they cope with the inflation.

"We think economic contraction in China - actual negative real growth numbers - sometime in the next two or three years," Bill Smead, Chief Investment Officer at Smead Capital Management told CNBC on Thursday.

Smead believes the Chinese economy will slow down by 3% for two straight quarters in the short to medium term.

A forecast made by the national research agency says that China’s economy will grow 9.5% in the first half of 2011 and sustain much of that pace for the rest of the year with little chances of a hard landing.

Published in the official China Securities Journal the forecast made by the State Information Centre (SIC) predicts that the annual inflation would be 5.3 percent in the first half and 4.9 percent for the whole of 2011. It said inflation was set to hit a new high in June, but did not give a specific forecast.

The global economy is slowing down in view of a number of factors such as the euro zone's debt problems and a weak U.S. housing sector, but is not headed for a double-dip slump, the head of the OECD said on Monday.

"No, that is not the case," Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), told reporters when asked if recent signs of a slowdown pointed to the global economy facing another downturn.

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey revealed that about half of Americans with 2/3 of Republicans are sure the country is going into another recession. 54% of the polled said they disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy.

“The public is incredibly pessimistic about the future,” said Peter Hart, the Democratic pollster who conducts the NBC/WSJ poll with his Republican counterpart Bill McInturff.

McInturff adds: “The president has substantial advantages, but is still in for a difficult race.”

Ben Bernanke said on Thursday that the US economic recovery still needs help from the Federal Reserve even though the country has more signs of improvement.

The chairman of the central bank now gives slightly better outlook for the largest economy in the world pointing to gains in household spending, improved confidence, and stepped up bank lending as signs 2011 may bring stronger growth than 2010.

The United States faces another financial crisis, says a governmental official. Phil Angelides, chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), said that the financial crisis that crippled the economy could happen again.

He blamed regulators for lacking backbone and corporate management for being imprudent. Angelides said it was "striking how little has changed" since the crisis came to a close.

Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke made a positive outlook for the US economy yet he stopped short of saying that everything will be super good through the year as jobless rates will unlikely contract substantially.

"We see the economy strengthening. It has looked better in the last few months. We think a 3 to 4 percent-type of growth number for 2011 seems reasonable," Bernanke said at an event sponsored by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

A new report from the US Federal Reserve published this week revealed that American economy strengthened by the year end. The Beige Book report showed a very bright picture of the US progress but it has made little impression on experts.

Federal Reserve reported better conditions across all 12 of its districts, though banking and financial services showed results that varied by region.

"Economic activity continued to expand moderately from November through December," the central bank said in a statement.

At an annual convention leading economists were making predictions for the near future of the US economy with outlooks being grey to say the least. 2011 may be a year of declining recovery as government support measures are contracting while in the long run the United States must face up to inevitably being overtaken by China as the world's largest economy. And it may have missed a chance to rein in its largest financial institutions, many of whom remain too big to fail and are getting bigger.

Gold remained near its two-week high above $1,400 on Wednesday as the US scraggy economic data boosted the metal's safe-haven appeal, while bullish forecast for next year helped keep the market sentiment buoyant.

According to the latest data from the United States consumer confidence deteriorated in December while prices of single-family homes dropped almost twofold of the expected rate. It questioned the accelerating recovery of the world’s largest economy.

Next year may bring yet another recession with protectionism causing major problems, says Roger Nightingale, strategist at Pointon York.

"If the … world economic cycle is going to be turning down in the second half of 2011 and if in addition to that you get tight money, we could get a fairly steep downturn. We could have another recession," Nightingale said.

In a fight against inflation many countries across the globe are starting to tighten liquidity, Nightingale said after China raised its key interest rate over the weekend.

Shares of Best Buy Co declined over 15% on Tuesday as the largest online retailer reported an unexpected decrease in fiscal third-quarter profit and cut its outlook. The No. 1 U.S. electronics retailer’s (BBY 35.52, -6.18, -14.82%) profit dropped as lower demand for televisions, notebook computers and videogames led to a sales shortfall in the U.S. While margin widened slightly, analysts said they were concerned that it came at the expense of sales.

According to the latest stats Americans' wealth grew 2.2% in the July-September as stock portfolios surged.

Meantime, the report from the Federal Reserve shows that household net worth rose to nearly $55 trillion, even though the value of real estate holdings sank 3.7%.

This can be hardly matched to the pre-recession peak of $66 trillion but it is still far above bottom hit during the recession: $49 trillion in the first quarter of 2009.

While according to the official statements the recession in the US ended last year, the US economy is still on the brink of a cliff with top strategists predicting the economy could suffer a new blow next year. The main concern is that the US growth heavily depends on government support and it cannot reduce an unemployment rate that last month surprised financial markets with a rise to 9.8 percent.