The Next Market Bubble Is Forming and No One Sees It

The mass media is obsessed with bubbles. They see market bubbles everywhere, like in crude oil, soft commodities or China... Granted, there are some serious issues with all three, especially with China and its consumption of the other two.

According to a report from a colleague of mine, there could be something happening with regard to China and its crude oil that could have a larger impact than what mainstream media has us concerned about. Follow this link to read more about China's secret oil "colony."

But the mainstream hasn't seen the market bubble I want to talk about today.

Remember the Dot-Com Era?

I know I do. Specifically I remember the summer of 2000, which was the beginning of the end for many dot-com companies. One experience punctuated the end of the decade for me (and it wasn't the Y2K scare).

At the time I was an options market maker. It was our job to create liquidity for the options markets. When the public was selling options, we were buying them and vice versa. A friend of mine was going on vacation for the month of June and asked me to trade a couple positions he had in Broadcom (BRCM:NASDAQ). Back then BRCM was a high-flying (and fast dropping) IPO. I was excited and scared at the same time.

I remember he said one thing to me before he left: "make sure no matter what happens that you are long gamma!"

That was a bold statement to make. It meant that this stock was going to be very volatile and you better be on your toes.

That summer, BRCM rallied over 140%, to a high of about $185 -- By February of 2001, it had fallen to $18 a share.

I remind you of this stock because we must remember how it was hyped up, misunderstood and subsequently pumped to price levels that were unsustainable, all due to something called the Internet. Amateurs and professionals alike were lured into worthless companies like the children of Hamelin were led to death by the Pied Piper.

There was no way to quantify the potential earnings of many of these companies, because we simply did not know what the Internet would become, how people would use it or how companies would profit from it. People simply bought blindly and ignored logic. Many saw their fortunes crumble.

Social Media = Dot-Com 2.0

In my eyes, social media is in many ways the dot-com of today. It carries the same ambiguity and mystique, which makes it both sexy and scary at the same time. And social media companies are attracting many of the same types of personalities that were lured by the likes of webvan.com, pets.com and other Internet flops.

Social media companies are supposed to be changing, tracking and profiting from the ways we communicate, entertain and market to one another. The Internet is an instantaneous gateway to information no matter where it is. But social media is the structure, sorting and disseminating that information.

Unlike industry media, social media is consumer generated. It's a way for us to share information with our friends in the most effective way. There are companies trying to profit from the new ways we interact, but not every company will get its time in the sun.

The big problem is that social media is still evolving. The way we learn and share information is constantly changing. And there is a ton of it including blogs, videos, tweets and reviews.

Right now we don't know what social media companies will be successful because much of it is still an experiment of sorts.

I'm not trying to be Debby Downer, but I remember the bad days of dot-com vividly. I know dozens who lost everything betting on tech companies. It seems to be happening all over again.

Do your homework before investing in any of these companies and do your best to ensure that their revenue streams are scalable and sustainable!

(Sign up for Smart Investing Daily and let me and fellow editor Sara Nunnally simplify the market for you with our easy-to-understand articles.)

The IPO March

To be fair, several of the companies coming to market do have more extensive track records and are even seeing strong revenue growth. The key will be profitability and growth in the long term.

LinkedIn (LNKD:NASDAQ) -- This hot issue came to market last week and after hitting a high of $120, the shares have since tumbled to $78. What makes LNKD dangerous at this price is the fact that it made less than $10 million last year (though, the company is growing) and yet the market valued it over $8 billion.

What's worse is that Facebook could easily expand its employment history section and do everything that LinkedIn does, but better. It also has a much broader client base. LinkedIn is looking more like an employment site like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com. Both have seen their shares tumble over the past year.

Options markets are also pricing in a huge drop in LinkedIn shares. The skew is massive, meaning that the out-of-the-money (OTM) puts are 41% more expensive than the OTM calls in some cases.

(Editor's Note: For put options, out of the money means the price at which you can exchange your options for stock is lower than the current price of the stock. For more information on options and options education, check out Jared's service, WaveStrength Options Weekly.)

I see the shares much lower in the coming months.

Groupon -- Last night Groupon announced its intentions to be listed under the symbol "GRPN." The company is looking to raise $750 million to expand and improve its business. In the first quarter of the year, it realized $644.7 million in revenue, but reported a $113.9 million loss (due to expansion).

Groupon is a great service and unique business model, but there is serious competition building. The other thing is business owners usually have to offer goods and services at or below cost. These companies could be disappointed when Groupon users don't become regular paying customers.

I would like to see another year of sales growth before I put any money in Groupon.

Pandora (music) -- The music streaming service is set to begin trading under the ticker symbol "P." Shares are expected to be priced around $7-$9.

While Pandora is cool, it has a plethora of competition, which makes sustainability and growth hard to justify.

Facebook -- Facebook is the beast in the space; I equate it to Google in terms of reach and sustainability. Like Google, it sorts data from millions of users and sells that data to advertisers. Facebook has weaved its way into just about every smartphone, home PC and website out there.

And it is making money. According to notes from Seeking Alpha, Facebook made an approximate $2 billion in revenue in 2010. They also noted that Facebook should earn $5 billion by 2012. Using Google's margins as a guideline, Facebook is on track to make $1.5 billion in profits by 2012. This is an IPO I would truly look into buying (depending on where it is priced, of course).

If you remember my story about Broadcom earlier, many of my colleagues are saying the same thing now that was said to me then and that scares me.

Many of these companies have positive aspects. I highlighted the negative aspects not to scare you but to insure that you consider all scenarios before jumping into a "hot" social media stock.

Max Keiser : Revolt now or be a debt slave

International Banks like Goldman Sachs have been looting Libyans money and were able to siphon billions of dollars from that country as they excel in raping countries cheating and stealing through monopoly deceit and lies , Max Keiser has a message for you "Revolt now or 
be a debt slave" for life I'd add . Its really is down to the people to decide

More Americans Think Economy Will Never Recover

The mixed signals regarding the economy's health are taking a toll.

Americans are growing increasingly doubtful about direction of the US economy, according to the latest survey from business-advisory firm AlixPartners.

In fact, an increasing number, some 61 percent, say they don't expect to return to their respective pre-recession lifestyles until the spring of 2014, if ever.

What's worse, a full 10 percent said they expect they will never return to pre-recession spending.

That's a more pessimistic view than last year, when those surveyed expected that they could be back to pre-recession spending levels by the middle of 2013.

"Americans continue to push their expectations for return to a pre-recession 'normal' further and further into the future—close enough for comfort, but far enough away to seem realistic," said Fred Crawford, CEO of AlixPartners. "But as that happens, more and more it seems normal is actually where we are right now."

The latest employment report, which showed that U.S. employers hired far few workers than expected in May, only serves to reinforce these attitudes.

"It's a vicious cycle," Crawford said. "Americans need to see a significant decrease in unemployment to feel confident in the economic recovery, but companies are waiting to see increased demand for their products and services before they begin hiring and making job-creating capital expenditures."

In the latest survey, some 63 percent of Americans said they feel "not good" or "bad" about the state of the US economy, representing a significant increase from May 2010 when only about 49 percent of those polled felt this gloomy.

The survey also found that Americans overwhelmingly expect to delay by at least 12 months major purchases and expenditures such as spending on new cars, home repairs and vacations.

There have already been signs of this in the latest retail sales reports that came out earlier this week from a handful of major retailers.

Overall, sales at stores open at least a year rose 5.0 percent in May, which is below the 5.4 percent increase that Wall Street expected, according to Thomson Reuters data.

While some analysts used a number of excuses, including high gasoline prices, poor weather, and lackluster merchandise, to explain away the disappointing results, the findings of the survey may suggest that consumers are hunkering down amid the uncertainty.

The view was expressed Thursday by Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel, who said that traffic at Target stores slowed in the second half of the month.

"Our guests continue to shop cautiously in light of higher energy costs and inflationary pressures on their household budgets," Steinhafel said, in the company's monthly sales press release.

AlixPartners is by no means the first organization to recognize this growing pessimism.

Goldman Sachs economist Jan Hatzius said the number of consumers who believe they have a chance to bring home more money one year from now is at its lowest level in 25 years, based on his analysis of the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters consumer sentiment poll.

The Collapse In EUR Spec Longs Ends As Dollar Short Covering Has A Little More To Go

As we predicted last week, the tide has turned in the futures market, where after 4 weeks of steep declines, the net EUR non-commercial specs have finally posted a pick up. And considering they are delayed by about 700 pips, after the pair has surged since May 23, expect what will likely be the biggest surge in net long EUR exposure next week. In the week ended May 31, there were 21,970 net longs, compared to 19.129 in the week prior, and 99,516 on May 3, when the EURUSD was flirting with the 1.50 mark. We expect a pick up of at least 30-40k contracts in the next week as all latecomer shorts promptly cover. Elsewhere, the short covering spree in the USD continues but not for long: look for the most recent net long exposure of 4,787 to promptly flip and go negative once again as more and more begin anticipating another Monetary Easing episode. And out east, the net JPY exposure went bearish fror the first time sine May 3, with net exposure dropping from 8,006 contracts to -1,648. The technicals at this point indicate a break of recent EURUSD resistance in the 1.50 area is very much possible.

The Treasury-Yield Indicator for the S&P 500

Master technical analyst Chris Kimble sent me his Treasury-Yield "ketch-up" indicator for the S&P500 performance over the next 90 days. We'll check back through the summer to see how well this indicator performs. On a personal note, I'm one of those fussy types who special orders at McDonald's: "double hamburger, no ketchup, and a senior coffee." That's $1.68 at my local McD — affordable even if Chris's "ketch-up" indicator proves correct.

Click for a larger image

Chris comments: Since 2007, each time the yield on the 10-year note has broken key support, the 500 index has declined at least 15% in the following 90 days.

Of late, yields have broken below key support again.

Are stocks about to play a game of "ketch-up"? Or will it be different this time around?

The End of Times - Part 1 ~ Martin Armstrong

The Economist UK - 4th June-10th June 2011

The Economist UK - 4th June-10th June 2011

English | 140 pages | HQ PDF | 108 Mb

download it here

The Economist Audio Edition [June 4, 2011]
English | MP3@48 kbps | 9 hrs 09 mins | 191.8 Mb

The audio edition contains word-for-word recordings of all articles published in The Economist, read by professional broadcasters and actors. It is ideal for anyone who wants to listen to articles while travelling, exercising or just relaxing.

download audio here

China Has Divested 97 Percent of Its Holdings in U.S. Treasury Bills

(CNSNews.com) - China has dropped 97 percent of its holdings in U.S. Treasury bills, decreasing its ownership of the short-term U.S. government securities from a peak of $210.4 billion in May 2009 to $5.69 billion in March 2011, the most recent month reported by the U.S. Treasury.

Treasury bills are securities that mature in one year or less that are sold by the U.S. Treasury Department to fund the nation’s debt.

Mainland Chinese holdings of U.S. Treasury bills are reported in column 9 of the Treasury report linked here.

Until October, the Chinese were generally making up for their decreasing holdings in Treasury bills by increasing their holdings of longer-term U.S. Treasury securities. Thus, until October, China’s overall holdings of U.S. debt continued to increase.

Since October, however, China has also started to divest from longer-term U.S. Treasury securities. Thus, as reported by the Treasury Department, China’s ownership of the U.S. national debt has decreased in each of the last five months on record, including November, December, January, February and March.  

Prior to the fall of 2008, acccording to Treasury Department data, Chinese ownership of short-term Treasury bills was modest, standing at only $19.8 billion in August of that year. But when President George W. Bush signed legislation to authorize a $700-billion bailout of the U.S. financial industry in October 2008 and President Barack Obama signed a $787-billion economic stimulus law in February 2009, Chinese ownership of short-term U.S. Treasury bills skyrocketed.

By December 2008, China owned $165.2 billion in U.S. Treasury bills, according to the Treasury Department. By March 2009, Chinese Treasury bill holdings were at $191.1 billion. By May 2009, Chinese holdings of Treasury bills were peaking at $210.4 billion.

However, China’s overall appetite for U.S. debt increased over a longer span than did its appetite for short-term U.S. Treasury bills.

In August 2008, before the bank bailout and the stimulus law, overall Chinese holdings of U.S. debt stood at $573.7 billion. That number continued to escalate past May 2009-- when China started to reduce its holdings in short-term Treasury bills--and ultimately peaked at $1.1753 trillion last October.

As of March 2011, overall Chinese holdings of U.S. debt had decreased to 1.1449 trillion.

Most of the U.S. national debt is made up of publicly marketable securities sold by the Treasury Department and I.O.U.s called “intragovernmental” bonds that the Treasury has given to so-called government trust funds—such as the Social Security trust funds—when it has spent the trust funds’ money on other government expenses.

The publicly marketable segment of the national debt includes Treasury bills, which (as defined by the Treasury) mature in terms of one-year or less; Treasury notes, which mature in terms of 2 to 10 years; Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), which mature in terms of 5, 10 and 30 years; and Treasury bonds, which mature in terms of 30 years.

At the end of August 2008, before the financial bailout and the stimulus, the publicly marketable segment of the U.S. national debt was 4.88 trillion. Of that, $2.56 trillion was in the intermediate-term Treasury notes, $1.22 trillion was in short-term Treasury bills, $582.8 billion was in long-term Treasury bonds, and $521.3 billion was in TIPS.

At the end of March 2011, by which time the Chinese had dropped their Treasury bill holdings 97 percent from their peak, the publicly marketable segment of the U.S. national debt had almost doubled from August 2008, hitting $9.11 trillion. Of that $9.11 trillion, $5.8 trillion was in intermediate-term Treasury notes, $1.7 trillion was in short-term Treasury bills; $931.5 billion was in long-term Treasury bonds, and $640.7 billion was in TIPS.

Before the end of March 2012, the Treasury must redeem all of the $1.7 trillion in Treasury bills that were extant as of March 2011 and find new or old buyers who will continue to invest in U.S. debt. But, for now, the Chinese at least do not appear to be bullish customers of short-term U.S. debt.

Treasury bills carry lower interest rates than longer-term Treasury notes and bonds, but the longer term notes and bonds are exposed to a greater risk of losing their value to inflation. To the degree that the $1.7 trillion in short-term U.S. Treasury bills extant as of March must be converted into longer-term U.S. Treasury securities, the U.S. government will be forced to pay a higher annual interest rate on the national debt.

As of the close of business on Thursday, the total U.S. debt was $14.34 trillion, according to the Daily Treasury Statement. Of that, approximately $9.74 trillion was debt held by the public and approximately $4.61 trillion was “intragovernmental” debt.

Canadian Dollar is No Haven from a US Dollar Collapse

We spend a lot of time here at The Dollar Vigilante chastising Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve and preparing our subscribers for a collapse of the US dollar - something which has been paying off very handsomely, with gold and silver at record highs this year - but don't take that to mean that we prefer any other fiat currency.  No fiat currency in the western world is any better than the US Dollar.  In fact, in every case, they are worse.

The Federal Reserve is still, despite its secrecy, one of the most transparent central banks in the world.  It also has, over the last century, despite inflating the dollar downward by 97%, been one of the least inflationary banks.

We often hear of people denounce the US dollar and correctly divine that it is headed to worthlessness, but, in the same breath, they say they own other fiat currencies like the Canadian dollar.

This is a case of ignorance of the workings of banks like the Bank of Canada - or virtually any other major central bank in the world, for that matter.

There are numerous reasons why the Canadian dollar will not survive a US dollar collapse:

• The Canadian economy is very tied to the US economy
• The Canadian Government is intent on devaluing the Canadian dollar alongside the US
• The Bank of Canada has virtually no gold backing the Canadian dollar
• All that does back the Canadian dollar is the US dollar and other fiat currencies
• The Canadian dollar is not used globally

The Canadian Economy is Very Tied to the US Economy

We need only show one graphic to make this point:

It is obvious that if the US goes through a monetary collapse or even just a major depression, the Canadian economy will be hobbled significantly.

The Canadian Government is intent on devaluing the Canadian dollar alongside the US

The Canadian Government has made it painfully clear that they have no intention of allowing the Canadian dollar to rise much more than par with the US dollar.  The reason: lobby groups and voting blocks from export based industries will depose of any government which allows this to happen.

The Bank of Canada has virtually no gold backing the Canadian dollar

Since 1980, Canada has sold 99.5% of it gold.  Canada now has the 78th largest holding of gold of all countries.  Countries such as Bolivia, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Macedonia have more gold than does the Bank of Canada.

The Bank of Canada used to have 653 tonnes but today it only holds 3.4 tonnes.  To give a rough idea of what all of Canada's gold holdings look like, we created this rough estimate of what it would look like if Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, was standing beside it:

All that does back the Canadian dollar is the US dollar and other fiat currencies

If you believe that the US dollar is headed to zero then it makes no sense to own the Canadian dollar.  Practically all that backs the Canadian dollar is US dollars.

The Canadian dollar is not used globally

The Canadian dollar is not a true global currency.  There is only one, current, true global currency: the US dollar.  It is accepted on the streets of New Delhi, Phnom Penh, Buenos Aires, Moscow and practically everywhere.  Try bringing some Canadian monopoly money to Shanghai and try buying some street noodles.  You'll see how valid of a global currency the Canadian dollar is.  No soup for you!

A Warning from the Depths of Hell

Remember ye the dark days of late 2007 when it first became apparent that the stock market's new highs were lying to us and that only the bond market was telling the truth?

An ice-cold hand from those long-buried days is reaching back from the grave and grabbing hold of the bond market now in much the same way.  The below chart I'm about to show you from the folks at Kimble Charting Solutions will give you the chills at a minimum...

What you're looking at below is high yield bonds breaking support while the long bond breaks resistance concurrently - this happened as a precursor to the equity market's crash and may be happening now for the first time since.

Click to Embiggen (if you dare):

Consider this a warning sign from the very depths of the hell that was the onset of the credit crisis.  Something to be aware of.

Greenspan 'Scared' Over Deficit; Calls for Debt Ceiling Rise

The debt and deficit problem in the US is so serious that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan finds himself in the position of recommending the highest tax rates in more than a decade.

Getty Images Alan Greenspan

In an interview with CNBC, the former central bank chief described himself as a "small government, free-market economist" who nonetheless believes that in order to raise revenue and close the debt gap, 1990s-era taxes must be reinstituted.

It's a measure, he said, of how serious the problem has become.

"The fact that I am in favor of going back to the Clinton tax structure is merely an indicator of how scared I am of this debt problem that has emerged and its order of magnitude," he said.

The marginal tax rates fell in the early 2000s under former President George W. Bush, who instituted sweeping cuts that last year were renewed in a deal between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans.

But the rates, particularly those on Americans earning more than $200,000 a year, have been the focus of intense debate and are considered in peril depending on how next year's elections go. Congressional Democrats see higher taxes as a key to raising revenue to close the budget gap.

See Part 2 of Greenspan's Interview

See Part 3 of Greenspan's Interview

Greenspan expressed concern over the tenor of negotiations in Washington. He also endorsed the deficit cuts from Rep. Paul Ryan (R.-Wisc.) that have run into strong opposition due to targeting Medicare and Medicaid.

"If I had my own way, I like the Ryan budget in all respects and I think that essentially that sort of thing is what I would vote for if in fact we're voting," he said. "But the problem essentially is that is not going to get a majority vote in Congress or be signed by the president of the United States. The question is, what's my fallback position?"

Telling America's aging population that its entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare will survive without significant changes is dishonest, Greenspan added.

"It's not an issue of saying we're going to have a choice for what we're going to do. We don't have the physical resources," he said. The government is telling people "they're guaranteed their medical services, and I think that's not accurate. We cannot do that granted our lack of resources."

Yet Greenspan said Congress has no choice but to approve raising the debt ceiling as the US would risk catastrophe if it does not meet its obligations.

"The problem is we're all going and maneuvering around and as the days pass we're getting closer and closer to the debt ceiling," said Greenspan, who called Washington brinkmanship on the issue an "extraordinarily dangerous problem for this country."

"What's happening now is that there's a realization of how serious this problem is and everyone is coming together to talk," he said. "But compromise...?"

Stocks post fifth straight week of losses

Evidence is piling up that the economic recovery has lost some of its vigor. That has deflated a stock market rally and pushed indexes down for five straight weeks, the longest losing streak since mid-2008.

So, what's next? Don't hold out hope for more help from the government, analysts say. Another round of stimulus spending isn't in the cards, the Fed has already slashed interest rates near zero and has said it will end its bond-buying program on schedule at the end of this month.

With high gas prices crimping consumer spending and companies still reluctant to hire, investors may have to settle for a stock market and an economic recovery that plod slowly along.

"The market is clearly getting used to uneven economic data," says Jeff Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial. "We've moved from a recovery phase to a more modest pace of economic growth."

A weak employment report spurred another stock sell-off Friday, two days after the Dow Jones industrial average had its worst drop in nearly a year. The Dow lost 97.29 points, or 0.8 percent, to close at 12,151.26.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 12.78, or 1 percent, to 1,300.16. The Nasdaq composite fell 40.53, or 1.5 percent, to 2,732.78.

Each index lost 2.3 percent for the week. The last time there was a longer decline in the S&P 500, the market's most widely used benchmark, occurred during the six weeks ending July 11, 2008, before the worst days of the financial crisis.

Despite the market's recent slump, analysts say there are still plenty of bright spots in the economy including business spending and bank lending. The market could still manage to struggle higher this year, Kleintop says, but the climb from here will likely be a long and slow. Picture a jagged valley of dips and steps, not a straight shot up or down.

Investors will probably have to scale back their expectations for profits, much as economists from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and other banks recently lowered their estimates for economic growth. Kleintop expects to see corporations cut their earnings estimates in the coming weeks. The news is sure to push their stocks lower. "There will be more days like (Friday)," Kleintop says.

Stocks had a strong start to the year, hitting their highest levels in nearly three years in late April. But the market has been sputtering since then as troubling signs emerged about the economy. Investors probably overreacted to strong corporate earnings at the start of the year, said Andrew Wilkinson, senior market analyst with Interactive Brokers.

"I think what investors need to do is get accustomed to a more sluggish pace of growth," Wilkinson says.

Employers added only 54,000 new workers in May, the fewest in eight months and well below what analysts were expecting, the Labor Department reported. Private companies hired the fewest new workers in nearly a year. The unemployment rate inched up to 9.1 percent from 9 percent.

Stocks fell sharply after the opening of trading but recovered some ground after a report from the Institute for Supply Management came out at midmorning. The group of purchasing executives said the economy's service sector grew in May for an 18th straight month. The pace of growth picked up slightly from the ISM report April, which was the worst in eight months.

Later in the morning European officials said Greece would receive the next installment of its emergency loan package, lifting some uncertainty about Greece's fiscal crisis. European stocks and the euro rose after the European Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund gave Greece more breathing room as it tries to service its debts.

The Labor Department's closely-watched monthly jobs report reinforced earlier signals that the U.S. economy is slowing. High gas and food prices have cut into consumer spending and the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan have hurt U.S. manufacturers by slowing down supplies of industrial parts.

The Dow plunged 280 points Wednesday, its worst drop in nearly a year, on a weak payrolls report from ADP and the biggest decline in a key manufacturing index since 1984. That combined with other weak readings on the economy prompted analysts to lower their projections for growth in 2011.

"We are clearly seeing a significant slowdown in economic activity, and a lot of that has to do with the effect of higher energy prices and the disruption from Japan," says David Kelly, chief market strategist with J.P. Morgan Funds.

Rising pessimism about the economy's health have some investors hoping the Federal Reserve will drum up another rescue package. The Fed's current $600 billion bond-buying effort has been credited with fuelling months of gains in the stock market since last August. That program, dubbed QE 2, ends this month. So will signs of sagging economic growth spur a QE 3?

Most economists doubt it.

"QE 3 isn't on the table," says Anthony Chan, chief economist at J.P. Morgan's private wealth unit. The economy isn't in as bad shape as it was last summer when the Fed hatched its bond-buying plan, Chan says. At the time, many worried about a double-dip recession, and weak inflation had the Fed fearing a spiral of falling prices known as deflation, a scourge of the Great Depression.

Now, rising gas prices have pinched consumer spending and have been blamed for weaker retail sales. The consumer price index has climbed 3.2 percent over the past year.

Newell Rubbermaid Inc. shares fell 12 percent after the company lowered its outlook for sales and earnings in 2011. Large retailers that sell the company's products are lowering their expectations for economic growth this year.

"Persistent softness in the U.S. economy and increased inflationary pressure have caused us to revise our outlook for the balance of the year," President and CEO Mark Ketchum said in a statement. "Our revised expectations are lower than they were just a short while ago."

More than two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was 3.6 billion shares.