March 20, 2009

General Electric said Thursday that it expected its financial unit, G.E. Capital, to be profitable this year, though it might only break even if the economy were to deteriorate more than the U.S. Federal Reserve currently estimated.A stress-test of the business based on the Fed’s worst-case outcome for the U.S. economy showed that profit could be $2 billion to $2.5 billion this year, said Michael Neal, chief executive of G.E. Capital.

‘‘Even in the adverse case, we’re probably break-even to slightly profitable,’’ Mr. Neal said.In December, G.E. had forecast that GE Capital would earn about $5 billion in 2009.G.E. executives made efforts to draw a sharp contrast between G.E.’s finance operations and those of commercial banks, whose exposure to exotic financial instruments and soured mortgage loans has driven banking shares to multiyear lows.