May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Harvard University economist Martin Feldstein, a member of the committee that charts the American business cycle, said the U.S. economy is ``sliding into a recession.''

``This is a weakening economy,'' Feldstein, president of the National Bureau of Economic Research, said in a Bloomberg Television interview in New York. ``If you compare where the economy is now, with where it began at the beginning of the year, just about every indicator is down.''

The comments by Feldstein, a Republican, go farther than anyone in the Bush administration has gone in publicly characterizing the severity of the U.S. slowdown. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in an interview last week said the economy is ``still growing, albeit modestly.''

In Frankfurt today, Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann said ``we don't expect a recession in the U.S.'' and the financial crisis stemming from the collapse of the U.S. subprime market may be nearing an end.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, seeking to end the worst housing slump in a quarter century, urged the government and mortgage lenders in a speech yesterday to intensify efforts to avoid foreclosures. Foreclosure filings rose 57 percent in March from a year earlier, according to Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc.

Feldstein, 68, said the biggest risk to the economy is a sharper downturn in housing.

Fed Rate Cuts

``It's really too early to tell,'' he said. ``Everything hinges on what's going to happen to house prices,'' and ``therefore the whole credit crunch.'' Home prices will ``come down somewhat more,'' Feldstein said.

The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee on April 30 cut the benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to 2 percent, and signaled it may take a breather after seven reductions.

Feldstein said the FOMC probably shouldn't keep reducing rates or risk aggravating inflation. ``The Fed has cut rates to a point where further rate cuts really don't produce anything,'' he said.

The U.S. dollar ``will continue to come down,'' he added.

Feldstein is a member of the NBER's business-cycle dating committee, a group of economists that determines the beginning and end of expansions and recessions. The group usually declares a recession months after it has actually begun.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based NBER defines recessions as a ``significant'' decrease in activity over a sustained period of time. The declines would be visible in gross domestic product, payrolls, production, sales and incomes.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anthony Massucci in New York at amasssucc@bloomberg.netKathleen Hays in New York at khays4@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 6, 2008 15:46 EDT