Q3 Paper Outlook — Beaten to a Pulp

"Even if the U.S. economy picks up toward the end of the year as expected, that may not put much upward pressure on paper prices because paper has become an international commodity," Davis notes. "I don't think the double-dip recession that is being talked about is going to happen at this point, but there are some serious issues dogging the recovery. The growth rate of the U.S. economy has slowed a little, but we still expect the second half of the year to bring a return to long-term growth of around three percent. That's if consumer confidence holds."