Economic Forecast for 2007

The U.S. economy is poised to shake off the housing slump and regain momentum by the end of this year, and the credit goes to techies, bankers, chefs and shoppers, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of economists.

On average, the economists predict that inflation-adjusted GDP, a broad measure of economic activity, will grow at an annualized rate of 2.3% in the first half of 2007 (see chart above) and 2.8% in the second half. That's up from a sluggish 2% in the third quarter of 2006.