Economics Update

Not a great day.

Consumer confidence had the largest plunge ever, from 70.3 to 57.5, and home construction fell to a 17½ year low.

There are some indications that the credit freeze is relaxing, at least temporarily, the short term spread between LIBOR and Treasuries has dropped a bit.

I'm not sure that there is a real thaw, as evidenced by the fact that hedge funds are hemorrhaging money and investors.

The dollar, meanwhile was largely static today.

In energy, oil is back above $70/bbl, but that is likely the result of OPEC holding an emergency meeting to cut production.