Bank of America Economist Now Says No Recession Underway
Bank of America economists now say there is no recession underway after the bank had predicted a strong probability of an economic downturn earlier this year.
In December of 2022, Bank of America said it expected to see a recession in the U.S by the first quarter of 2023, highlighting a major slowdown which led economists to expect volatility in the markets this year.
“A recession is very likely in the U.S.,” BoFa wrote in its Year Ahead 2023 report.
The bank pointed out that this recession would last until the third quarter of 2023.
More than half or 56% of Americans said in December that they believed the country was already in a recession, according to a poll by YouGovAmerica and The Economist.
Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said at the time, “there is a slowdown happening, there is no question about it.
We are expecting a fairly weak economy throughout the entire year.”
Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan said the firm reversed its prediction for a recession in coming months because of strength in the jobs market and robust consumer spending.
“People are employed, they have money, they are spending money,” Moynihan said in a Bloomberg Television interview Thursday.
“It looks like we are reaching a pretty good equilibrium.”
“We have revised higher our outlook for growth in economic activity this year and next, and no longer expect the economy to fall into a mild recession,” Bank of America US Economist Michael Gapen wrote on Tuesday.
Bank of America now sees the Fed’s interest rate hike ending in a “soft landing, where growth falls below trend in 2024, but remains positive.”
The shift by Bank of America’s team of economists from a mild recession in 2024 to no recession at all comes amid growing optimism about the state of the US economy.
Also Read: Banks Are Now Closing Thousands of Accounts Daily
Other Recent Bank of America News
There have recently been reports of Bank of America freezing accounts or closing accounts linked to Coinbase.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took conducted a poll after a user said their Bank of America account had been closed for no apparent reason after a 15-year run.
The Bank of America customer stated that they do Coinbase transactions directly from the bank.
“This is a war on Bitcoin & crypto”, they said on Twitter.
At the time of this publication, more than 1,400 users voted to have been affected by a similar or same occurrence.
“Closed my account with them in 2010 after 10yrs. Worst bank I ever had,” said one user.
“Following the recent lawsuits by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against major crypto players Binance and Coinbase, banking institutions have grown cautious about engaging with these firms,” says Coinpedia.
But this isn’t Bank of America’s first rodeo in violating its customers.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Tuesday that an investigation found that Bank of America harmed hundreds of thousands of customers across multiple product lines over a period of several years through a series of illegal practices.
Bank of America is paying a whopping $250 million fine for double charging insufficient fund fees and opening new accounts without customer’s knowledge or consent.
While not everyone may be experiencing Bank of America freeze or close their bank accounts relating to crypto, it’s undoubtly a mess for those who are.
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