OT - Pretty dismal economic news: As Jester has often repetitively correctly predicted (and maybe I'm late to the party on this one), GDP was revised downward to -0.7 for Q2. At first, 'seasonal factors' - weather, dock strike, whatever was blamed, but those excuses proved not to hold any water. I don't know exactly what the original prediction was at the beginning of 2015, but I'm sure it was healthy growth. Liz Ann Sonders (gag me with a spoon) head of Schwab Research is her usual sunny, cheerleader self, predicting a return to growth and citing an article of "5 reasons there's still time in this US cycle" of stocks. And why a recession isn't in the cards. And other made-up fluff. Although we are still the prettiest horse at the glue factory, as Ben noted.

Found it interesting that British Petroleum came out with expectations that $50-$60/bbl oil will last at a minimum the next 3 years, with concommitant cutting of capex and closure of existing wells that aren't economically viable.  They have little reason to lie about this, I think. A large number of articles citing the Saudi's being  persistent in their aim of cutting some of the 'froth' out of US frackers, and how the 'balance of oil' comes down to them, as OPEC are all in favor of the Saudi's cutting back, but not them. Saudis say they'll consider cutbacks if Russia does the same, as they fear cutting production/export and having Russia lap up their markets. Given the trust level of Russia on several fronts, I'd say quite unlikely.

I'd compact this stuff to short links if I could just figure out how to cut and paste.....cursed?