Economics Update

Well, it looks like the credit crunch is thawing a bit, as the dollar LIBOR and the TED Spread have both dropped over the past few days.

Of course, banks are still not lending to anyone other than each other, though.

Yesterday, I mentioned the ISM's manufacturing index falling. Well today, it's the full report from the Commerce Department, with factory orders falling 2.5%, seasonally adjusted, which was more than 3 times the predicted number.

In the mean time, the dollar fell the most against the euro since 1999, 2.7%, which is kind of odd, since the stock market was up strongly, in what I call the "No More Bush Rally".

I think that this is all election arbitrage, kind of a financial rain dance, as is today's bump in oil prices.

In any case, I would expect that the ECB will be cutting rates soon, which should further buttress the dollar, as their producer price inflation numbers came in below expectations.

Still, we are not out of the woods, as evidenced by soaring bankruptcies in October.