may or may not match up with what you are feeling every day. we re about to get the biggest hard data dump of the summer. a multifaceted look at what the cold hard facts tell us about where the u.s. economy stands. you have these big hitters all announcing their earnings this week. it s going to be a big reflection of where we are, what we re buying out there. what we re not buying and participating in in this market. look at the reports coming out this week. it s a huge week for this summer. you have gdp, the cost of goods. perhaps the most important, consumer sentiment that we ll get at the end of this week. as you know, two quarters of gdp contraction. we ll get that second quarter gdp number. signalling a recession in the u.s. economy. the white house is changing its tune on the long-accepted benchmark. janet yellen is starting to hedge on what the definition of a recession is. with that, we bring in neil cavuto from your world. always good to have you with us. neil:
administration down playing the recession call. there s semantics. what is a recession, how do you technically define it. no matter what, there s widespread agreement no matter who you talk to. that is that economic growth is slowing. the treasury secretary, janet yellen acknowledges as much. but then she maintains that that does not mean a recession is inevitable. this is not in an economy that is in recession. but we re in a period of transition in which growth is slowing. and that s necessary and appropriate. we need to be growing at a steady and sustainable pace. yellen says the job market is still strong. she says a recession would have to be a broad-based economic contraction. consumers are still spending. household balance sheets are still in good shape. all of that said, the economy did contract the first quarter. economists think at beast we ll see slow growth when the numbers release thursday. the white house insists even if that number does go negative and some
nixon. he was best known as pauly from good fellas. okay, boys. let s eat. paul was 83 years old. take a look at his work there. that s the story for today. we ll see you back here today as the story goes on. have a good day, everybody. neil: all right. are we in a recession or not? we ll know in a matter of days. welcome. i m neil cavuto. this is your world. what in the world to make of competing arguments as to whether we ll see another contracting quarter that would meet the classic definition of a recession, two quarters in a row. now people are chasing another description that has nothing to do with that. it is won fusing. connell mcshane taking a look at what is at stake. hi, connell. we have seen the biden