Advertisement

Recession fears grow

 
Viewed from the southbound lanes, traffic in the northbound lanes of I-275 in Tampa slow to a crawl on Wednesday evening, Jan. 20, 2016. Last week, the Florida Department of Transportation told frustrated drivers that the traffic backlogs caused by the new lane alignments on northbound Interstate 275 would improve as people adjusted to the new path. After a week of snarled congestion and backups that spanned the Howard Frankland Bridge, FDOT is stand
Viewed from the southbound lanes, traffic in the northbound lanes of I-275 in Tampa slow to a crawl on Wednesday evening, Jan. 20, 2016. Last week, the Florida Department of Transportation told frustrated drivers that the traffic backlogs caused by the new lane alignments on northbound Interstate 275 would improve as people adjusted to the new path. After a week of snarled congestion and backups that spanned the Howard Frankland Bridge, FDOT is stand
Published Feb. 13, 2016

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.