If unemployment is highest since 1995, what was the market at in 1995? You may want to take a look with so many people unemployed. JMHO.
money.cnn.com
U.S. unemployment jumps
December 7, 2001: 8:37 a.m. ET
Employers cut 331,000 jobs in November; jobless rate rises to 5.7%.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 5.7 percent in November as employers cut hundreds of thousands more jobs in response to the first recession in a decade in the world's largest economy.
The Labor Department said employers cut 331,000 jobs last month after a revised loss of 468,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate rose from 5.4 percent. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast unemployment at 5.6 percent and job cuts of 201,000.
The combined October-November job cuts are the most since May-June of 1980. The unemployment rate is at its highest level since August 1995.
"The fact that unemployment is getting worse is not a surprise," said Anthony Chan, chief economist at Banc One Investment Advisors. "But the fact that it's deteriorating at this pace is a surprise."
To keep consumers spending despite mounting unemployment, the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates 10 times this year and is expected to do so again after its policy makers meet Tuesday.
Stock futures sank after the news, pointing to a lower start on Wall Street. But Treasury bond prices rose, pushing yields lower, as investors bet additional Fed rate cuts now are more likely.
Despite the Fed's efforts, the U.S. economy sank into recession anyway, according to economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research, who said the downturn began in March.
A recession as commonly defined -- two straight quarters of shrinking gross domestic product (GDP) -- hasn't happened yet, but third-quarter GDP shrank at a 1.1 percent rate, and fourth-quarter GDP is expected to be worse. |
