The Wall Street Journal has a story that economists thinks there is a reduced chance of recession in the U.S.
According to the story 52 economists surveyed in November put the chance of a U.S. recession in the next 12 months at 1-in-4, down from 1-in-3 two months ago.
I checked the Onalytica Recession-Index for the U.S. Economy to see if I could corroborate that. The chart is shown below.
Clearly it shows that there has been a declining anticipation of a recession in the U.S. economy since September.
Comparing the Onalytica Recession-Index for the U.S. economy to the U.K. economy is interesting. The chart below shows the Recession-Index for both economies.
Notice how they were very closely linked until May 2011. After that time the recession concerns were primarily with the U.S. economy. However, after August the outlook for the U.K. economy started to become worse while the perception for the U.S. economy started to improve.
Maybe what the U.K. can hope for is that the U.S. economy starts to grow to an extent that it can help the U.K. avoid recession.
See this article for more information on how these indices are constructed.