Businesses cut prices at a record rate last month, builders started fewer new homes than anytime on record, and last week more people filed for new unemployment benefits than in any week since 1992, according to government data, as the outlook for the economy continues to dim.And the Fed is becoming more bearish:
The economy "would remain very weak next year" and "the subsequent pace of recovery would be quite slow," the Fed said in its new economic projections. "The unemployment rate would increase substantially further."(The Fed isn't exactly going out on a limb with that last prediction, as the unemployment rate had already reached 6.5 percent in October.)
The Fed projected that the national unemployment rate will rise to between 6.3 percent and 6.5 percent this year.
Oh, and the stock market continues its slide.
