IN BRIEF

Gasoline prices rise 16 cents in two weeks

A survey says the national average price for regular gasoline rose nearly 16 cents in the last two weeks.

The average price of self-serve regular gasoline on Friday was $3.47 a gallon, mid-grade was at $3.59 and premium was $3.70. That’s all according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations nationwide released Sunday.

Regular is up 60 cents from a year ago.

The national average price for a gallon of diesel is $4.21. That’s $1.24 more than a year ago.

Of the cities surveyed, the cheapest price is in Newark, N.J., where a gallon of regular cost $3.21, on average. The highest was in San Francisco at $3.88.

WASHINGTON

More economists predict U.S. recession

The odds the country will fall into its first recession since 2001 are rising sharply.

Thirty percent of economists now believe the economy will shrink in the first half of this year, up from 10 percent who thought this in January, according to a survey being released today by the National Association for Business Economics.

"That’s a striking difference," said Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America and the group’s point person on the survey. The tone of the overall survey, he said, was "extremely gloomy."

Under one rough rule, if the economy contracts for six straight months it would be considered in a recession. Many economist and the public believe we are in one. Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently acknowledged that a recession is possible.

Forecasters "were notably downbeat about their own companies and the overall economy," Simonson said.

The majority of forecasters polled — 51 percent — thought the economic growth during the first half of this year would clock in between zero and 1 percent, which would still mark a feeble showing. Sixteen percent pegged growth in the first half at between 1 and 2 percent, while only three percent put it at between 2 and 3 percent. No forecaster believed growth during this period would exceed 3 percent.