Some surprising news on the economy this morning –
First, the U.S. economy grew in the first quarter of the year so, technically, the U.S. is not in a recession.
Most economists work on a definition of recession that requires two consecutive quarters of negative growth or contraction. The U.S. economy grew, albeit at an anemic pace, in the fourth quarter of 2007 and, data this morning shows that it advanced at an annual rate of 0.6 per cent in the first three months of 2008.
Second, the Canadian economy shrank in February, largely because of a decline in manufacturing. That surprised most forecasters who predicted the economy would continue to grow in February.