[expat_panama]

Good morning and the futures traders (metals -0.38%, indexes -0.30%) are beginning to tell us "take the money and run!"  True, both stocks'n'metals have been flat for the better part of a week now but they may be seeing things in terms of a rally that's showing its age.  Reports galore today--

MBA Mortgage Index
ADP Employment Change
ISM Services
Crude Inventories
Fed's Beige Book

--to go w/ lively FR econ threads:

• Target to cut thousands of jobs in restructuring
• What's America's Economic Fragility Score?
• American Companies, States Firing American Workers, Importing Guest Workers To Replace Them [Video]
• CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS; RIDING “CAP AND TRADE” TOWARD THEIR FINAL SUNSET
• US running out of room to store oil; price collapse next?

[abb]

See my post #12.

[grania]

What's going on? Stocks are down, gold and silver are down, at the grocery prices of some basic foods that had stayed stable were up and there were shortages of some items.

Add to that what I'd call a common sense factor. Fuel bills for February are going to be a nightmare in a large part of the country. What's that going to do to the economy in the near term?