White House Adviser Says Unemployment Will Stay High
Christina Romer – White House economic adviser and Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers – said today that even though the pace of job losses in the US was slowing, the unemployment rate would continue to grow and will stay at an elevated level for some time yet.
“Even as we see things start to stabilize and hopefully grow again, we do know that unemployment tends to lag, and so that the unemployment rate is going to be high and probably stay high for a while, precisely because that is sort of the normal pattern as we come out of recession,” Romer told a news outlet earlier in the day. More
Germany Central Bank Says Economy to Worsen
Germany’s Central Bank released a prediction today that Germany’s economy will shrink another 6.2 percent this year and will then stagnate in 2010. More
US Retail Sales Decline 4.6%
According to a key retail sales report from Goldman Sachs and the International Council of Shopping Centers, retail sales fell 4.6 percent for the month of May compared to a predicted drop of 3 percent. More
Traders Start Pricing in Rate Increases
With growing talk that the worst of the recession could be over in the US, traders have turned their sites on the probability of an increase in interest rates. Federal-funds futures contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade show a 59 percent probability the central bank will raise its target rate for overnight bank borrowing compared to 27 percent yesterday. More
