UCLA experts say no recession in sight

UCLA analysts bring an unexpectedly optimistic outlook on California and the nation’s economic strength, by forecasting that although the following months are not going to be pretty, we are not headed towards a recession.

“We are holding firm: no recession this time,” UCLA Anderson Forecast Director Edward Leamer said in a report being released today.

Industrial production growth remains strong, the quarterly report notes, and consumer spending on big-ticket items such as refrigerators is expected to keep climbing — albeit by just 0.3% this year, from 5% at the end of 2007.

Although the real estate market remains fragile, Orange County, Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area are among the economic growth areas in the state.

Link [Via LA Times]