THE WEEK THAT WAS
WINNER: I-275 commuters
Traffic crunch northbound into Tampa eases as state DOT opens new lanes.
LOSER: Lululemon in downtown St. Petersburg
Yoga pants retailer closes at the Sundial shopping center. Center owner says new tenant will be announced soon.
A growing number of corporate leaders and economists see mounting risk of the U.S. tipping into a recession, a nod to headwinds posed by the global growth slowdown and early-year convulsions in financial markets. The odds of recession in the next 12 months have climbed to 21 percent, double the level of a year ago and the highest since 2012, according to the average estimate in the Wall Street Journal's monthly survey of economists. Economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch peg the chance of recession in the next 12 months at 25 percent. The darkening sentiment — coming despite positive readings in many U.S. economic indicators—reflects worries that the world's top economy won't be able to stay healthy when so many foreign economies are sagging.