>>Cheney: Economy to Recover Later in 2001
Sep 16 11:00am ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday the U.S. economy was "strong" and, while the country "quite possibly" could be in recession, he expected it to rebound later this year.
Asked in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" if the United States was now in both a war and a recession, Cheney said, "Quite possibly. We clearly have a war against terrorism and we don't know yet what the third quarter is going to be like" in the economy.
The second quarter gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic activity, in the United States showed tiny 0.2 percent growth, revised downward from a 0.7 percent increase initially tallied.
A further downward revision of second quarter GDP to a decline and a third quarter decline would technically place the economy in recession, Cheney said. A recession is loosely defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction in GDP.
Cheney, who last year was among the first to warn the U.S. economy was headed for recession, also said on Sunday he hoped Americans would not allow the attacks last week at the World Trade Center and Pentagon to curtail their normal economic activity.
"We look forward to recovery later this year from the slowdown that we've been through and I have every confidence that will in fact happen," Cheney said.
Asked if he was concerned about the stock markets which have been closed since Monday, Cheney said "our economy is strong, I do believe the market is going to open tomorrow, that's clearly the current plan and expectation."
Amid the longest closure since World War One, testing done on Saturday to check the operations of the markets was successful, putting the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and other markets on track to open at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) on Monday.
Four U.S. commercial airliners were hijacked on Tuesday, two of which crashed into the World Trade Center twin towers toppling the 110-story structures and paralyzing the financial markets. A third hijacked plane slammed into the Pentagon outside Washington and the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Thousands of people are feared dead in the strikes that the Bush administration has called "acts of war."<<
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