« Bush has a plan to fix subprime debacle | Home | What a week! »
Rosenberg declares recession is here!
By Jon Menaster | January 8, 2008
David Rosenberg, with Merrill Lynch, proclaimed that the often spoken recession that always seems just around the corner has arrived, in full force:
The U.S. economy has entered into its first major recession in 16 years according to David Rosenberg, chief North American economist for Merrill Lynch, who declared the downturn in a research note to clients released on Monday.
Mr Rosenberg wrote: “According to our analysis, this [recession] isn’t even a forecast any more but is a present day reality.”
What a statement. As if the American financial markets weren’t shaken enough, this will really make people nervous. Rosenberg goes on to state:
At no time in the past sixty years has the unemployment rate risen 60 basis points (50 bps is the actual cutoff) from the cycle low without the economy slipping into recession, and here we now have the jobless rate hitting 5% in December versus the March/07 trough of 4.4%.
What, technically, is a recession? Glad you asked - according to the fabled Wikipedia entry on recession,
In macroeconomics, a recession is a decline in any country’s gross domestic product (GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive quarters of a year.
Topics: Business, Investing, Money News |