Obama Holds First Press Conference

Barack Obama holds his first press conference at president-elect on Friday at 2:30pm ET in Chicago after meeting with is advisory team made up of 17 people including former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Los Angeles May Antonio Villaraigosa, Xerox Chairman and CEO Anne Mulcahy, Google chairman Eric Schmidt, and billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Obama has been busy putting together his administration, which includes Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff, David Axelrod as his senior advisor and Rober Gibbs as his White House press secretary.

Obama and his advisers were faced with more troubling U.S. economic news this morning. The Dow went down significantly in the days following Election Day. The Labor Department reported that the U.S. labor market dropped 651,000 jobs in the past three months, shooting up the unemployment rate to a 14 year high of 6.5%. In his press conference, Obama hopes to address the U.S. financial crisis, stating plans on how he will put his economic plans into actions and who will help him accomplish this daunting task.

This news only puts further pressure on Obama's plan to get an economic team in place as a top priority during his transition to the White House and when he takes office in January. Obama would like to name a treasury secretary before the end of the month. Potential candidates for the role are New York Federal Reserve Bank chair Timothy Geithnher, former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and Summers. One of the first economic challenges the new administration will have to deal with is implementing the Treasury's $700 billion rescue plan for the financial markets. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson plans to involve Obama and his team in decisions about the plan.