U.S. in recession?

21 Jan

Posted by Rosli M Hanip as business

World business communities are discussing about U.S. in recession. Quotes or titles like “Asian markets fall to fresh low“, “Asian markets plunge on U.S. recession worries“, “Markets slide on recession fears“, “Asian stocks dive anew on U.S. recession fears” are very worrying to many. We is Asia definite have some impact on this issue especially when a statement is issued as follows “The United States is headed for a recession that will be “much nastier, deeper and more protracted” than the 2001 recession, says Nouriel Roubini, president of Roubini Global Economics.

The impact is shown since last year, when Housing Market, Inflation, Loss Of Jobs Risk to Recession seems very obvious. The job market took a serious and unexpected turn for the worse last year in the US, raising the risk of a recession and putting added pressure on the Federal Reserve to move more aggressively to keep the ailing housing industry from infecting the rest of the economy.

This slump have been highlighted by Nouriel Roubini’s Global EconoMonitor at his blog. “The Biggest Slump in US Housing in the Last 40 Years”…or 53 Years?

On a recent news where a report says that the unexpected softer retail sales in December, when Americans are usually on a shopping spree for the year-end festive season, seems to confirm that the recession has arrived on US shores. The retail sales figures, together with a string of economic data that point to a slowdown in economic activities, have raised pessimism that the world’s biggest economy will not be able to avoid a recession.

For confirmation, look at this stats, which is really alarming. According to the US Department of Labor, the unemployment rate rose to 5% in December – the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2005.

The increase in last year’s retail sales decelerated to 4.2% versus 5.9% in 2006. It was the lowest since 2002, when it grew at 2.4%.

The rising jobless rate would prompt Americans to tighten their belts and spend less, which is not good for the US economy, whose growth has hinged on consumer spending and the property boom over the past four years or so.

Listen to Jim Rogers Interview January 2008 on US Recession?