US economy enters technical recession

The GDP numbers defied expectations, with experts predicting 0.5% growth. This followed a contraction of 1.6% in the first quarter of this year putting the US into a technical recession by global standards. However, the US approaches recession differently, arguing it is not determined by two consecutive quarters of negative growth, as is the case in the UK and much of the rest of the world. Instead, the National Bureau of Economic Research determines recession based on a range of factors such as GDP, real income and employment. The NBER has not yet designated the US economy as bein...