President-elect Barack Obama has named his economic team warning the US is facing an economic crisis of historic proportions.

Although predicting the US could lose millions of jobs next year, Obama expressed confidence that the nation would weather the crisis.

At a news conference 57 days before his inauguration, Obama tapped New York Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner (Gite-ner) as Treasury Secretary to deal with the economic crisis.

Barack Obama, President-elect, said, "Tim will waste no time in getting up to speed. He will start his first day on the job with a unique insight into the failures of today's markets and a clear vision of the steps we must take to revive them. The reality is that the economic crisis we face is no longer just an American crisis, it's a global crisis, and we will need to reach out to countries around the world to craft a global response."

President-elect Barack Obama has named his economic team warning the US is facing an economic crisis of historic proportions.

Obama also tapped former treasury secretary Lawrence Summers to be director of his National Economic Council.

The president-elect also named Christina Romer as chair of his Council of Economic Advisers. And Melody Barnes as Director of his White House Domestic Policy Council.

Obama urged Congress to begin work with unusual speed to pass an economic stimulus package -- as soon as possible -- after being sworn in in January.

He wants action that will stabilize the financial system and get credit flowing, as well as create jobs.

Barack Obama, President-elect, said, "Beyond any immediate action we may take, we need a recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street, a plan that stabilizes our financial system and gets credit flowing again, while at the same time addressing our growing foreclosures crisis, helping our struggling auto industry and creating and saving 2.5 million jobs, jobs rebuilding our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, modernizing our schools and creating the clean energy infrastructure of the 21st century".

The scope of the recovery package is far more ambitious than Obama had originally spelled out. During the presidential campaign, Obama had put forward 175 billion US dollars worth of spending and tax-cutting stimulus proposals.

But his new plan will be significantly larger, incorporating his campaign ideas for new jobs in environmentally friendly technologies -- what he calls the "green economy".

U.S. stocks soared on Monday as Obama unveiled his economic team.

The Dow Jones industrial average raced up nearly 5 percent. Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped nearly 52 points. And the Nasdaq Composite Index leaped over 6 percent.

Investors also cheered Washington's move to inject 20 billion dollars into Citigroup, staving off a potential bank collapse that could have put the global financial system at risk.

(CCTV November 25, 2008)