ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: And turning now to our economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is scheduled to give more testimony to Congress next week about America's economy. In his midyear report, Greenspan says the U.S. economy is slowing down. What does that mean for consumers? Laura Cohn, a Federal Reserve correspondent for "Business Week," joins us from New York with some insights. Laura, first things first, is the Fed done raising interest rates for this summer?</s>LAURA COHN, "BUSINESS WEEK": Well, if you listen closely to what Alan Greenspan said on Capitol Hill this week, he seemed to suggest that, for now, at least for the summer, interest rates may indeed deed stay where they are. So we may not see higher interest rates in the cards until perhaps next year.</s>HALL: You talk about the cards. That reminds me of cars, and I am sitting here thinking, I wonder if the high price of oil and gasoline has had any effect on consumer spending.</s>COHN: That's a good question, and the chairman did actually mention that in his testimony this week. Since consumers have had to pay more for gas to fill up their cars, they've had less money to spend on other things. So that is having impact on the economy. And consumer spending is expected to slow in part because of the higher cost of gas and oil.</s>HALL: It's a little too earlier for me to start thinking about the holidays, but not for economists. How do the third and fourth quarter look to you?</s>COHN: Well, economists are expecting the economy to slow somewhat in the second half of the year. But given that, the economy was so robust in first half the year that we're still going see a healthy economy, just slower growth then we saw when the year began.</s>HALL: Laura Cohn, Federal Reserve correspondent for "Business Week," thank you so much for joining us.</s>COHN: Thank you
What Does Slowing Economy Mean for Consumers?