EconoLog

NEW YORK (AP) - Is the U.S. economy slipping into recession? Economists, analysts, company executives and investors are increasingly recognizing the possibility. Following are some comments Friday assessing the state of the economy, and what may happen if it slides into a recession:
-- Analysts from Moody s in a conference call cited heightened fear of a recession as one of the reasons the ratings agency is likely to downgrade some bond insurers financial-strength ratings by the end of the month.
-- Goldman Sachs analyst Tetsufumi Yamakawa said in a client note the economic expansion that began in Japan in January 2002 will soon yield to a recession if it has not already. The turmoil in U.S. markets did not trigger this recession, Yamakawa said, but rather a slump in consumer spending, a slowdown in exports and stricter regulations.
-- The last two times the New York Giants have played in the Super Bowl coincided with recession. The 2001 recession started a few months after the Giants lost to Baltimore in Super Bowl XXXV, while the Giants beat Buffalo in Super Bowl XXV about three-quarters through the 90- 91 recession.
-- Citi Investment Research analyst Chip Dillon said he is favorable on containerboard stocks because they tend to do well during and just after recessions.
-- CVS Caremark Corp., which posted same-store sales growth of 4 percent in January versus 2 percent in December, should mitigate recession fears with the sales report, said Wachovia Capital Markets analyst Matt Perry.
-- In a note titled "In Style: Monthly Review of Style and Strategy Performance," Keith Miller and John Rowe of Citi Investment Research said markets struggled in January because of concerns over recession. Strategies that sought to put money into "growth" stocks, or companies poised to grow, did poorly, while many "value" investors, who try to figure out whether stocks are over- or under-valued by the market, did well.
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