Global Stocks Down as US Job Losses Rattle Markets

...But we won't just yet

(NEWSER) - The Federal Reserve yesterday reassured the public that it was “prepared to provide additional accommodation if needed” to support the recovery, but that it didn’t think it was needed just yet. But merely suggesting the possibility was enough to send markets in the right direction, with interest on Treasury bonds falling, in theory making mortgages and other long-term loans cheaper, the Washington Post reports. More»

The economy should be Obama's top priority: Henninger

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama makes health care sound like the most pressing issue in American life, but with unemployment at 10% and the country still officially in recession, Daniel Henninger wonders why he's "draining a dwindling reservoir of presidential capital." The cost of health care may be a problem for many, but government's job of fixing wrecked markets is not nearly over—and voters agree, with 87% dissatisfied with the economy. For the Wall Street Journal columnist, "even more so now than way back in 1992: It's still the economy, stupid." More»

(NEWSER) - If you’re the glass-half-full type, recent economic indicators look good: Unemployment fell last month, the savings rate is up, and productivity hit a 6-year high. But that same data proves that ordinary people aren’t likely to feel the good vibrations anytime soon, the Washington Post reports. “It's going to be a recovery only a statistician can love,” said a Wells Fargo economist. More»

Forecast sees it at 8.6% at end of 2012

(NEWSER) - If President Obama were hoping for a quick election-year turnaround in the jobless rate, the Federal Reserve burst his bubble today. The Fed projected unemployment will be at 8.6% at the end of 2012, not much better than the 9.1% registered in September of this year, reports the Wall Street Journal . The projections don't get remarkably better after that: The Fed sees the rate at 8% by the end of 2013 and 7.7% the following year. More»

That's the highest level in nearly 15 years

(NEWSER) - With unemployment levels high and the US on the brink of default , is it any surprise that American pessimism has reached a 15-year high? A new CNN poll cited by Politico finds that 59% expect the economy to be in bad shape a year from now, the highest percentage since CNN started asking that question in 1997. Of those surveyed, 40% expect the economy to be in good shape a year from now, but only 4% of those believe it will be in "very" good shape. More»