Fat lady ain't sung yet

Panel not ready to say when the recession ended A committee of economists, charged with determining the beginnings and ends of recessions, confirmed Monday that it could not yet declare an end to the recession that began in December 2007.

"Although most indicators have turned up, the committee decided that the determination of the trough date on the basis of current data would be premature," the group at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) said in a statement.

"Many indicators are quite preliminary at this time and will be revised in coming months," the committee statement said.

Many will continue to struggle. Unemployment usually keeps rising well after a recession ends. After the 2001 recession, for instance, unemployment didn't peak until June 2003 — 19 months later.