Abby Joseph Cohen is a former chief U.S. strategist at Goldman Sachs. Spoke with CNBC on Friday on her concerns for the US economy ahead, saying that she views the likelihood of an economic downturn rising in recent months:
- “The tailwinds, quite frankly, have gotten weaker”
- “That doesn’t mean that we’re heading into a recession anytime soon, but I think we are in a situation where things are not quite as easy as they might have been 18 months ago.”
Add that it will be “more difficult” to forecast the U.S. economy over the next 12 to 18 months as political issues during a presidential election year may weigh on the outlook:
- “If we don’t have a budget deal and the government shuts down, there are all kinds of consequences that are very hard to quantify.”
- US risks looking “somewhat dysfunctional again” after the debt-ceiling standoff earlier this year. “It could [put] pressure [on the] dollar, it could [take the form of] pressure on the Treasury, for reasons not having to do with the economy,”
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I posted on the new debt ceiling worries last week: