The U.S. economy grew a better-than-expected 1% in the fourth quarter of 2015, but still down from 2% the prior quarter. Jose Rasco, chief investment strategist at HSBC Private Bank Americas (HSBC), expects growth of 2% to 2.25% in 2016 and he certainly is not seeing a recession anytime soon. ‘Look at durable goods orders, look at retail sales, we’ve seen some good numbers in the U.S. economy,’ said Rasco. ‘They have been mixed but we have seen some good numbers that assure us we won’t be in recession this year.’ Meanwhile, the longer-term rate of inflation nearly doubled in January to 1.3%, finally approaching the Federal Reserve’s 2% target for another rate hike. Excluding food and energy, prices rose .3%, the largest increase since January 2012. Rasco said the hotter than expected inflation data is a good thing even if it does spur the Federal Reserve to raise rates this year.
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