Is the U.S. Economy in a Technical Recession? We'll Find Out This Week

On Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis will release its preliminary estimate for U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the second quarter of the year, which consists of the three months between April 1 and June 30. The data is important because it provides investors with a snapshot of how the U.S. economy performed in that three-month window.

The report Thursday will be particularly interesting because it could show that the U.S. economy entered an unofficial recession in the second quarter, which could have a whole range of consequences for the broader market. Let me explain.

After growing by nearly 7% in the fourth quarter of 2021, the U.S. economy contracted by 1.6% in the first quarter of 2022. Two quarters of negative GDP growth is considered by many on Wall Street (as well as some economists) to be the standard indicator that the country is in a recession, even though there are many more factors economists take into consideration before declaring an actual recession.

Source Fool.com