Obama expects more Americans to lose jobs

Barack Obama says he expects the US jobless rate, now at 9.5 percent, to climb in the coming months, while saying the financial sector is moving toward stabilization. "We will probably continue to see unemployment tick up for several months," he told reporters at the White House on Tuesday after meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. "We have seen some stabilization in the financial markets, and that's good, because that means that companies can borrow and banks are starting to lend again," he continued. More than 2 million Americans have lost their jobs since Congress approved Obama's hefty $787 billion economic stimulus package. The US president added that without the government help far more people would have seen their jobs lost.