Business cycle
Business cycle (also called economic cycle or trade cycle) is the circular movement of an economy as it moves from expansion to contraction and back again. Economic cycles have a big impact on investment performance. U.S. economic cycles last about five and a half years on average, ranging from just 18 months during the peak-to-peak cycle in 1981-1982 up to the current record-long expansion that began in 2009. The exact causes of a cycle and what factors contribute to the length are highly debated. The economic cycle has four stages: expansion, boom, contraction, and slump.
