Almost unbelievable (read PPT) that stock markets were able move up on a day when economic headlines were so dire. In contrast, I guess if the news was all great, the DOW would have been pummelled? Here are just a few snippets...

Regards - VHF

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Factory Orders in the U.S. Tumble More Than Forecast

Orders placed with U.S. factories in November fell twice as much as forecast, signaling businesses are cutting back on investments as the recession deepens.

http://tinyurl.com/87ytel

U.S. Retail Sales Fell 0.8% in Week After Christmas

Purchases at U.S. retailers declined last week as post-Christmas markdowns failed to overcome what may have been the worst holiday shopping season in four decades.

http://tinyurl.com/8dqm92

Metro-Area Foreclosure Sales Tripled in First 10 Months of 2008

Foreclosure sales in the 25 largest U.S. metropolitan areas almost tripled in the first 10 months of last year as rising unemployment and falling home values made it tougher for homeowners to sell or refinance their mortgages.

http://tinyurl.com/a8a8ft

Alcoa to Cut 15% of Work Force, Unload Assets

Alcoa Inc. announced the elimination of about 15,000 jobs, more plant closures, plans to sell assets and a 50% cut in capital expenditures to contend with the sustained recession.

The moves raise the question of whether other companies that have cut costs also will feel the need to dig deeper. Alcoa, the world's largest aluminum producer, announced a round of cost cutting in October when demand for commodities and the availability of credit began to fall.

http://tinyurl.com/8ppxnv

IBM May Cut Thousands of Jobs, Employee Group Says

IBM, the biggest technology employer, may cut thousands of jobs this month amid the global economic slowdown, according to the employee group Alliance for IBM.

A post on the Alliance’s Web site said the company may cut 16,000 jobs, which would top the 15,600 eliminated by Chief Executive Officer Sam Palmisano in 2002. The worldwide slump has tightened companies’ technology budgets and IBM may report a 1.6 percent drop in sales last quarter to $28.4 billion, based on the average analyst estimate.

http://tinyurl.com/89pb2p

Indian Exporters May Cut 10 Million Jobs, Lobby Says

Indian exporters may fire as many as 10 million workers, a lobby group said, putting pressure on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to cut taxes and protect the industry from the global recession.

The estimate by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations represent about 7 percent of those involved in overseas sales and about 20 times the Nov. 21 government estimate for job losses. The exporters don’t have orders beyond this month, A. Sakthivel, the lobby group’s president, told reporters today in New Delhi.

http://tinyurl.com/7a772f

Billionaire Merckle commits suicide

Adolf Merckle, one of Germany’s wealthiest men, committed suicide after weeks of talks with creditors designed to save his businesses from being consumed by disastrous investments and the global financial crisis.

The billionaire, 74, was said by his family to have been “broken” by the sight of his business empire, which ranged from pharmaceuticals to cement, crumbling. He died on Monday evening, apparently hit by a train a few hundred metres from his home in southern Germany.

http://tinyurl.com/a3zqk3

Real-Estate Executive Found Dead in Apparent Suicide

Real-estate executive Steven L. Good was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound Monday in his Jaguar in a forest preserve outside Chicago, said the Kane County Sheriff's Department.

Mr. Good, 52 years old, was chief executive of Sheldon Good & Co., one of the nation's largest real-estate auction firms. His father founded the company in 1965.