The phrase "a weak patch" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a period of time or a situation where performance, strength, or quality is lacking.
Example: "The team went through a weak patch during the last quarter, but they have since improved their performance."
Alternatives: "a rough period" or "a low point".
Bears stand accused of over-hyping the Chinese slowdown and mistaking a weak patch for a crisis in the offing.
But a weak patch for the US economy – not the consensus view, but obviously a possibility – would test faith in central bankers' magic.
While Germany went through a weak patch, the peripheral economies (Portugal excepted) flourished, thanks to the low interest rates that euro membership brought them.
This hefty spare capacity should bear down on inflationary pressures.Business surveys point to rapid growth in early 2011, but this follows a weak patch in the second half of last year in which GDP rose by only 0.3% a quarter.
There is some logic if outdated to the investor skepticism about Applied: Making capital goods is a cyclical business and the computer industry is entering a weak patch.
There is some logicalbeit outdatedto the investor skepticism about Applied: Making capital goods is a cyclical business, and the computer industry is entering a weak patch.
Misfit Wearables, the Khosla and Founders Fund-backed startup that builds elegant activity tracking hardware, is patching up a weak spot with the launch of its new Android app today.
Thus, Yukutake's hypothesis implies quite a weak crustal patch for the Izmit region because the low coseismic displacements on this segment may have significantly rotated the optimally oriented fault planes.
But GDP will rise next year by 2.1% rather than 2.3%; and in 2012 by 2.6% rather than 2.8%.A weak patch in early 2011 would no doubt cause alarm but the medium-term outlook is the one that matters.
"It does little to change the story that the economy rebounded strongly in the spring after the weak patch seen earlier in the year.
