White House: credit crisis shock to affect Q1 2009

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday said the shock from the credit crisis that has shaken global financial markets would probably affect the U.S. economy into the first quarter of 2009.

"No one should underestimate what this particular shock of this credit crisis has done for our economy for this year and for the remainder of this year and probably into the next quarter, the first quarter of 2009," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

"This is a significant shock as were the shocks from the two hurricanes that affected the southeast and Texas," he said. "Our economy's resilient and we'll certainly bounce back from this, but it will be a drag on our economy for sure."

Fratto said the U.S. economy was dealing with "very severe challenges" and that it would take time to deal with the troubled housing market.

(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)