<font size=5>U.S. unemployment jumps </font>

November 2, 2001: 8:36 a.m. ET

<font size=5>Employers responded to economic weakness by slashing 415,000 jobs, the most in 21 years. </font>

NEW YORK (CNNmoney) - <font color="#FF0000">The unemployment rate in the United States rose in October, the government said Friday, while employers cut hundreds of thousands of jobs in response to a sharp slowdown in the world's largest economy</font>.

Eigener Kommentar: Die Wortwahl wird härter. Von weicher Landung spricht mittlerweile wohl keiner mehr. Es heißt"sharp slowdown".

<font color="#FF0000">The Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate rose to 5.4 percent in October from 4.9 percent in September</font>. <font color="#FF0000">Employers cut 415,000 jobs, the biggest number since May 1980</font>, compared with 213,000 in September. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent and job cuts of 300,000.

<font color="#FF0000">"The numbers are very bad"</font> Heather Boushey, a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told CNNfn's Before Hours program."This is really the first sign that the events of Sept. 11 have taken a disastrous toll on the U.S. economy."

Eigener Kommentar: Und wieder wird fast alles auf die Terroranschläge geschoben. Die Terroranschläge haben das ganze wegen der Entlassungen in der Flugbranche sicherlich verschlimmert aber sie SIND NICHT <font color="#FF0000">DER AUSLÃ-SER</font> für das was hier ansteht. Das war doch klar das es keine weiche Landung gibt! Zumindest hier im Forum:)

U.S. stock futures turned lower after the news, pointing to a weak opening on Wall Street. U.S. Treasury bond prices were mixed.

<font color="#FF0000">Job cuts were already mounting even before September's terror attacks</font>, but a drop in demand in the wake of those attacks made the situation worse, and employers - particularly in the travel industry - accelerated the pace of layoffs.

Eigener Kommentar: Naja immerhin geben sie's zu!

To keep consumers spending and avoid a recession, the Federal Reserve has cut its target for short-term interest rates nine times this year - twice since the attacks - <font color="#FF0000">to their lowest level since 1962</font>. The Fed is widely expected to cut rates again after its policy meeting on Tuesday, while Congress is trying to craft an economic stimulus package.

Eigener Kommentar: Hallo Japan...! Schöne grüße dorthin!

Still, most economists expect a recession in the U.S. economy, commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of shrinking gross domestic product (GDP). Third-quarter GDP was slightly negative, <font color="#FF0000">and economists expect the fourth quarter to be much worse</font>.

The Labor Department also said workers' average hourly earnings rose by 1 percent to $14.47 from $14.45 in September.

Quelle: http://www.cnnfn.com[/b]

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