Madison Reporter

With interest rates on the rise in Wisconsin, nearly half of U.S. investors are expecting a recession in 2023 created through the actions of the Biden administration. 

In a new report from the World Economic Forum published on Tuesday (April 12), many retail and professional investors are predicting recessions in the near future, with 48% of investors expecting the U.S. to fall into recession next year, 21% expecting the downturn to happen in 2024 and 15% expecting the recession to come as early as this year.

"PPI is in at 11.4% for March, this forecasts an even higher number of future inflation and certainly the beginning of a recession," said Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison in a tweet on Wednesday (April 13). "The reckless Biden executive orders and policies issued since day one, are the main contributors to most of this. #selfinflicted"

Deutsche Bank was the first major Wall Street firm to predict an upcoming recession for the U.S., with economists forecasting a mild recession that is expected to begin in the final quarter of next year and continue into the first quarter of 2024, according to Fox Business. The U.S. Bank of America also announced its prediction of an oncoming recession, citing surging consumer prices and an aggressive central bank as possible causes. 

"We no longer see the Fed achieving a soft landing. Instead, we anticipate that a more aggressive tightening of monetary policy will push the economy into a recession," Deutsche Bank economists led by Matthew Luzzetti wrote in a recent report, according to Fox Business. 

The current oil shock is another cause of recession historically, with the Federal Reserve's only option to curb spiraling prices is hiking up interest rates in order to slow growth, according to The Hill. A poll from the Wall Street Journal found that 63% of those surveyed disapproved of Biden’s handling of inflation, with a wide margin choosing Republicans over Democrats as better able to handle rising prices.

Earlier this week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index data for the 12 months ending March 2022, which reported an 8.5% all items annual increase, the largest increase in over 40 years. In Wisconsin, current mortgage rates are 5.19% for a 30-year fixed mortgage, 4.37% for a 15-year fixed mortgage, and 3.56% for a 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), according to Bankrate.com.