FACTBOX: President-elect Obama to face distressed economy

(Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama will take office at a time when the U.S. economy is struggling, with many analysts warning of the potential for a deep, long recession.

The following is a look at recent economic data that underscore the economy's fragile condition:

* U.S. employers have cut a total 1.2 jobs million this year and the jobless rate hit a 14-1/2-year high of 6.5 percent in October 2008. In the August-October period alone, the economy shed 651,000 jobs, showing labor markets are crumbling faster and heightening the chances of a deep recession. A report on November 5 showed private-sector employers cut 157,000 jobs in October, the deepest in six years.

* U.S. gross domestic product shrank at a 0.3 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the sharpest contraction in seven years. A Reuters poll last month found that economists expect GDP to shrink for three straight quarters, which would be the longest period of contraction since 1974-75.

* The U.S. Treasury, which is ramping up government borrowing to fund efforts to rescue the financial system, said on Monday that a survey of 18 primary bond dealers showed a consensus for a $988 billion federal budget deficit for fiscal 2009, more than doubling the record $455 billion deficit in fiscal 2008, which ended September 30.

* U.S. stock markets tumbled in October. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index had its worst month since the October 1987 stock market crash, while the Dow Jones industrial average logged its biggest monthly drop in a decade.

* Mass layoffs -- involving 50 or more people -- hit their highest level in eight years in September.

* Consumer spending, which fuels two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, fell by 0.3 percent in September, the first drop in two years. U.S. consumer confidence in October suffered its steepest monthly drop on records dating to 1952.

* Existing home prices fell 9 percent from a year ago in September to the lowest level since April 2004. Prices of new homes were down 9.1 percent to their lowest since September 2004.

* U.S. industrial production tumbled by 2.8 percent in September, the biggest drop since December 1974. A report on Monday showed factory activity fell last month to its lowest level in 26 years. U.S. auto sales plunged 32 percent in October to a 25-year low.

* An index gauging activity in the service sector, which accounts for about 80 percent of U.S. output, fell sharply in October, into contractionary territory.

* About 85 percent of domestic banks tightened lending standards on commercial and industrial loans to large and middle-market firms over the past quarter, showing the credit crunch that set in a year ago is worsening.

* The Federal Reserve has cut benchmark interest rates to 1 percent from 5.25 percent in the last 13 months, and has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into financial markets to try to get credit flowing again. So far, those efforts have had only limited success.



Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed2/idUSTRE4A673I20081107