www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

   

Fed officials see recession in all but name

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-17 08:15

ALAMEDA - Two top Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday described the US economy as extremely weak -- whether or not it is technically in recession -- but also said inflation was a concern.


Janet L. Yellen, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, speaks about foreclosures to the Bay Area Council Outlook Conference in Alameda, Calif., Wednesday, April 16, 2008. Yellen said the mortgage crisis and financial services turmoil are likely to be a 'major drag' on the national economy into 2009. [Agencies]

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Janet Yellen said economic prospects are "unusually uncertain," with growth "at best" at a crawl.

"The economy has all but stalled and could even contract over the first half of the year," Yellen said in a speech to the Bay Area Council's economic outlook conference.

"I'm not ruling out a recession," she told reporters later. The ultimate designation of a recession -- two straight quarters of negative growth -- is mostly a technicality, Yellen said.

Across the country, Charles Plosser, president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, said the economy "feels pretty bad," regardless of whether a recession is declared.

Growth prospects are weak, and the slowdown will have consequences for everything from jobs to production, Plosser told reporters after a speech in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia.

The downbeat comments echoed those from the Fed's Beige Book assessment of economic conditions between March 5 and April 7, released on Wednesday.

The Beige Book said economic conditions were worsening across much of the nation even while food, fuel and raw material prices are increasing.

The dreaded "R" word -- recession -- was mentioned for the first time in years, quoting one Boston district contact as saying a recession "probably started in December" for retailers.

"The Beige Book either portrayed a slowdown in already sub-par economic conditions, or a deepening recession," said Michael Gregory, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto.

Also on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin told a Senate panel that small businesses, a major generator of jobs in the US economy, will find it harder and more costly to borrow money as financial market turmoil persists.

INFLATION A PROBLEM

Plosser and Yellen, who sit at opposite ends of the Fed's ideological spectrum, both restated their concern about inflation, which is running high enough for some Fed watchers to suspect the central bank will go slow on any additional interest rate cuts.

Mishkin on Wednesday told the Senate Small Business committee that the Fed could lower rates further if needed.

"Clearly you can't get interest rates below zero ... but we actually have interest rates now at 2-1/4 percent and clearly there is some room to lower them if it's needed," Mishkin said.

Plosser, who last month voted against the move by the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee to cut the benchmark federal funds rate by three-fourths of a percentage point, said, "Inflation is a concern, I've been saying that for some time."

Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher also voted against the cut, a rare double dissent.

   1 2   


Top World News  
Today's Top News  
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
主站蜘蛛池模板: 免费特黄级夫费生活片 | 91av综合| 一级做a爰片性色毛片男 | 伊人99re| 久久久久久尹人网香蕉 | 国内精品亚洲 | 免费人成在线观看网站视频 | 日本高清专区一区二无线 | 手机在线观看精品国产片 | 亚洲三级一区 | 日本欧美一级aaaaa毛片 | 亚洲国产精品自在现线让你爽 | 国产第二页 | 久久综久久美利坚合众国 | 日韩精品一区二区三区在线观看 | 欧美精品久久天天躁 | 欧美国产一区二区 | 久久精品国产99久久香蕉 | 亚洲qingse中文久久网 | 国产精品无码久久久久 | 日本aaaa级毛片在线看 | 亚洲一区二区免费 | 亚洲国产一成人久久精品 | 成人在线视频免费观看 | 国产v片在线播放免费观 | 国产三级香港在线观看 | 97在线观看成人免费视频 | 狠狠色综合久久婷婷 | 美女三级网站 | 亚洲天堂网在线观看 | 性欧美17一18sex性高清播放 | 欧美日韩永久久一区二区三区 | 亚洲无吗 | 精品久久久久国产 | 成年男女拍拍拍免费视频 | 玖玖在线精品 | 精品在线播放视频 | 精品在线播放 | 99精品免费观看 | 小明日韩在线看看永久区域 | 国产精品反差婊在线观看 |