UW Economist Rob Godby Assesses Friday's Market Drop

June 6, 2008 -- The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 400 points Friday. Rob Godby, a professor in the University of Wyoming Department of Economics and Finance, offered this assessment of the market plunge:

"The big drop started this morning with the unemployment numbers that came out, showing that unemployment jumped a half percent, which was far higher than the market anticipated.

"Once that happened, there was some bad news out of the Middle East. Israel threatened to bomb Iran if their nuclear program isn't stopped. And an analyst at Morgan Stanley predicted that oil was going to jump to $150 a barrel, and that didn't help things. (Oil futures closed at a record high $139 a barrel Friday.)

"It's not going to change much in this state; a lot of people will say they are glad they live in Wyoming. Our unemployment rate is probably going to stay around 2.6 percent, and with the national rate of 5.5 percent, that's a dramatic difference."

Posted on Friday, June 06, 2008

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