White House: Economy can weather housing headwinds

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday played down the risk of a recession and said the economy should be able to weather the difficulties in the housing market.

"It's been clear to everyone that the fallout from the housing market is going to have an effect," White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

"But even despite that headwind, we believe we have strong fundamentals in our economy," Perino said when asked if the administration was concerned about a downturn.