NEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Bank of America (BAC.N) CEO Brian Moynihan said on Wednesday he expects a soft landing in which the U.S. economy avoids a recession even as consumer spending and commercial borrowing slow. "Our research team is the best in the business and they have moved to the soft landing category. They have a slowdown in the economy in the middle of next year," Moynihan said in a wide-ranging interview at the Reuters NEXT conference. For months, Moynihan has cited healthy consumer finances and spending as indications that the U.S. economy could avoid recession. In the so-called soft landing scenario, economic growth slows, but remains positive.

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Persons: Brian Moynihan, Moynihan, Lananh Nguyen, Brendan McDermid, Morgan Stanley, James Gorman, Ted Pick, Tatiana Bautzer, Chizu Nomiyama, David Gregorio, Edward Tobin Organizations: Bank of America, Reuters NEXT, Reserve, Federal, Reuters, REUTERS, Bank of, Wall, reuters, Thomson Locations: U.S, New York City , New York