Business and Finance
THE ECONOMY WILL START to recover in the spring or early summer after a bleak winter, but growth in 1992 will be sluggish and well below that of a typical economic recovery, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of 42 economists. They expect inflation and the unemployment rate to change little this year, but said most interest rates will fall slightly in the months ahead.</br></br>The index of leading indicators fell 0.3% in November, the gauge's sharpest slide in 10 months, suggesting business activity won't expand significantly in the near future. A big decline in consumer expectations was the largest factor in the index's drop.</br></br>---</br></br>Stocks edged up, setting another batch of records, while bond prices rallied and the dollar fell. The Dow Jones industrials rose 4.92 points to 3168.83 in volatile and heavy trading. For all of 1991, the industrial average surged 535.17 points, or 20.3%, while the S&P 500 was up 26% and Nasdaq's composite index soared 56.8%.</br></br>---