THE Goldman Sachs issued a U.S. recession warning on Thursday as shares of the big four U.S. banks (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo) fell sharply, even as Credit Suisse shares soared 35% after the Swiss Central Bank’s liquidity offer of up to $54 billion.

Shares in the so-called “big four” in the US fell significantly, while the Daily Mail reports that the investment bank’s chief economist Jan Hatzius is to speak for a 35% chance the US to be hit by a recession in the next 12 months. This is a dramatically higher prediction than the 25% that Hatzius made in his previous prediction. Hadjius is so far the only Wall Street economist to boost the odds of a recession, but Goldman Sachs is known for its accurate assessments of economic trends. Against this background, he also cut estimates for the economic outlook for the United States, predicting that GDP will fall by 0.3% to 1.2% for the next quarter.

In particular, shares of JP Morgan fell 4.72 percent to $128.26 a share, and shares of Bank of America fell 0.94 percent to $28.49. Wells Fargo shares are down 3.29 percent at $38.85 a share, while Citigroup’s stock is down 5.44 percent at $44.82 a share.

Extraordinary special meeting for Credit Suisse

Meanwhile, Switzerland’s federal government will hold an emergency special meeting on Credit Suisse on Thursday, the day after its stock’s historic fall on the stock market, national news agency Keystone-ATS reported, citing well-informed sources.

Temporarily it is not clear whether decisions will be madethe agency clarifies, adding that the government nevertheless considers it urgent to meet in light of the upheavals and doubts affecting the country’s second largest bank.

Asked by AFP, the federal chancellery has so far made no comment.

Investors helped lift Credit Suisse shares today after the 50 billion franc bailout the Swiss central bank threw at the banking giant to reassure international markets.

Credit Suisse stock increased by 22% at the end of the morning in a strong trading volume.

Yesterday the stock had its worst session in its history after the panic move that followed statements by the largest shareholder of Credit Suisse, the national bank of Saudi Arabia. The stock fell to an all-time low of 1.55 Swiss francs.

In order to stop the panic move, Credit Suisse – which belongs to a very small club of banks deemed too important to be allowed to fail – announced in the middle of the night in Europe that it would ask the Swiss central bank to lend it up to 50 billion Swiss francs (50.7 billion euros), in order to “proactively strengthen” its liquidity.

The bank will also proceed with a series of debt buybacks for around 3 billion Swiss francs.