Economics Update

The Economist Nails It

The British economy just posted its largest quarterly loss since 1979, 1.9 % for the quarter, and 4.1% year over year.

We had Moody's downgrade American Express debt from A2 to A3, because of lower earnings from fewer purchases made with its cards, and more bad loans.

Unsurprisingly, the same thing is happening with the stress tested banks, where PNC Financial says that bad assets are expected to triple.

We do have some good news with Ford Motors beating expectations, though the numbers are still awful, and corporate borrowing costs falling below last October's numbers.

In currency, the dollar weakened again, and this had traders bidding up the price of oil.