Viewpoint | A Stephens Financial Commentary - January 2021 | Stephens

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The Economy & Strategies

Viewpoint | A Stephens Inc. Economic and Financial Commentary - January 2021

Jan 1, 2021

The last decade experienced slow but steady growth of about 2%. Then Covid-19 arrived, and the country and the world went on lockdown in early 2020. The U.S. economy lagged in the second quarter with the worst quarterly growth rate ever recorded in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Technology visionaries such as Elon Musk are plotting a path to Mars, unlike Earth-bound economists who keep struggling with more mundane issues such as:

  • What is the path of the current economic recovery?
  • Did the strong growth of the third quarter of 2020 continue through fourth quarter and into 2021?
  • Will the second wave of Covid-19 slow the return to normalcy?
  • Is the economy likely headed toward a period of languid growth as forecast by some economists?
  • No simple answers to these questions are readily apparent. This issue of Viewpoint is focused on unraveling the uncertainties confronting the American economy in 2021.

Read more, here.

About the Expert

Thomas Goho, Ph.D.

Former Chief Economic Consultant

Thomas Goho, Ph.D. is formerly the Chief Economic Consultant for Stephens Inc. He also served as the Co-Director of Stephens University at Wake Forest University.