After the disastrous -33.5% economic contraction ends in 16 days, the nation's leading economists expect the U.S. to grow 14.2% in the third quarter, according to the consensus forecast of 60 economists published in The Wall Street Journal today.

The upbeat results from the survey of more than 50 leading public- and private-sector economists contrast with a 5.9% plunge in the Standard & Poor's 500 index on Thursday and a resurgence of Coronavirus across southern and western U.S.

The survey was conducted in the past 10 days by The Journal and is evidence supporting the case that a strong recovery is likely but will be tempered by a slow return to the all-time peak in real gross domestic product of the fourth-quarter of 2019.