- December 28, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Economy
A winter surge in Covid-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant is prompting economists to downgrade U.S. and global growth expectations in the early part of 2022 as businesses struggle with absenteeism and consumers stay home to avoid getting sick.
In Europe, leaders reviewed whether to put in place new limits on activity as New Year celebrations approach. The U.K. government decided against tightened restrictions after reviewing hospitalization data, but Health Minister
Sajid Javid
said people should celebrate New Year’s Eve outside if possible.
U.S. officials are seeking ways to ease pressure on hospitals while also limiting business disruptions.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, downgraded his first-quarter U.S. gross domestic product forecast from 5.2% to 2.2% growth as he “can see the economic damage mounting going into the first quarter.”
…
