Goldman forecasting biggest rise in joblessness since WWII
By Rex Nutting
Last update: 10:55 a.m. EST Nov. 7, 2008
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The unemployment rate is expected to rise
to 8.5% by the end of next year and inch even higher in early 2010,
economists for Goldman Sachs wrote Friday. The cumulative
trough-to-peak increase of more than 4 percentage points in the jobless
rate would be the most since World War II, they said. Goldman analysts
lowered growth forecasts for the next three quarters, and said they now
expect the Federal Reserve to cut its interest rate target to 0.50% by
December. "The main reason for these changes is the accumulation of
evidence that U.S. domestic demand and production are dropping
sharply," they wrote. "We do not see a resumption of anything close to
trend growth before 2010." End of Story