March 7, 2009 ndash; The markets are in terrible shape, arguably, the economy is in worse shape. This week we saw a pickup in job losses, higher unemployment rates across the nation and as a whole, heightening concerns that the government really has no answer to solve the financial marketrsquo;s crisis while the markets reacted in turn, moving to levels we havenrsquo;t seen in 12 years. Here is the dismal prognosis for the week:

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The Markets ndash; The DJIA and Samp;P fell to 12-year lows. The DJIA has dropped nbsp;more than 20% since inauguration day (this is a spurious factoid, we think but one that dickheads like Rush Limbaugh are trumpeting on the airwaves so we might as well acknowledge it) . The DJIA closed at 6,626.94 on Friday, down 6% on the week, down 24% year-to-date and down 50% since the economists and lsquo;expertsrsquo; acknowledged back in January, 2008 that the economy was in a recession.

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Profit Warnings ndash; Adobe,

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Noteworthy Lows ndash; GE hit 16-year lows this week, GM is approaching 75-year lows,

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Employment Data – The ADP report showed this morning that the U.S. lost 697,000 jobs for the month of February, 13.5% more than expected (614,000 was expected). This weekrsquo;s jobless claims came in at 639,000, down from 670,000 last week, while continuing claims came in at 5.1 million, down slightly from 5.12 million reported last week. Both weekly and continuing claims came in better than expected.

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; US Productivity ndash; US Productivity fell at an annual rate of 0.4% in the October-December period while unit labor costs increased by 5.7%.

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Job Cuts ndash; Vale Inco (cutting 900 more jobs worldwide), US Olympic Committee (cutting up to 15% of staff), First Energy (laying off 335 workers), Inspire (cutting 20 jobs), A Schulman (cutting 64 jobs), Timken (cutting 400 jobs), Northrup Grumman (cutting 750 jobs), Changing World Technologies (the majority of its workforce), Tamarack Resort (250 jobs), Seagate (cutting 20% of its top executives), Spencer Press (374 jobs), Tyco Electronics (more, or a ldquo;substantialrdquo; amount of, employees), Diageo (150 jobs in North America), the Forth Worth Star Telegram (reduction of about 12% of workforce), General Dynamics (laying off 1,200), JM Family Enterprises (cut 500 jobs), Stanford Financial Group (about 1,000 laid off)

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Job Cuts ndash; Retail Sector ndash; US retailers cut 39,500 jobs in February, marking thenbsp;thirteenth straight month of job losses in the sector. Retail job losses account for almost 14% of the 4.4 million jobs cut in the US since January 2008.

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Chapter 11 ndash; Spansion, Masonite, Joersquo;s Sports, Changing World Technologies, Magna Entertainment,

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Bankruptcies in 2008 ndash; Personal bankruptcy filings in 2008 increase by 54% to 43,546, and are expected to spike upward in 2009, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. It expects filings to reach 1.4 million, or more this year.

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Closing the Doors ndash; Idahorsquo;s Tamarack Resort, R.R. Donnelleyrsquo;s Spencer Press facility, Sparton is closing its Jackson, Michigan manufacturing operations, the Connecticut School of Broadcasting,

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Ratings Downgrades ndash; Samp;P cut Hartford Financial, Samp;P cut Bank of America, Fitch cut Nieman Marcus, Fitch cut Saks, Moodyrsquo;s cut Wendyrsquo;s, Fitch cut Lincoln, Fitch cut Conseco, Samp;P cut Scotts Miracle-Gro, Fitch cut Boyd Gaming, Fitch cut Hungary, nbsp;Samp;P cut Palm, Moodyrsquo;s cut UPS, Moodyrsquo;s cut Harrahrsquo;s, nbsp;Moodyrsquo;s cut Briggs amp; Stratton, Samp;P cut Lexmark, Samp;P cut Barneys, Moodyrsquo;s cut Target, Fitch withdrew ratings for Smurfit-Stone Container, Samp;P cut Eastman Kodak, Fitch placed Ireland on Watch Negative, Moodyrsquo;s cut EQT, Fitch cut Goodyear, Moodyrsquo;s cut Standard Pacific, Samp;P cut British Airways, Samp;P cut Dow Chemical,

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Credit Markets ndash; HSBC said it is shutting down its US lending unit over the next five years.

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; State Troubles ndash; States combined deficits have reached about $50 billion in their 2009 budgets and are expected to expand. California is facing a $42 billion deficit.

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; State Unemployment ndash; Rhode Island unemployment rate hit 10.3% in January, Michiganrsquo;s unemployment hit 11.6% in January, Indiana hit 9.2%, Florida hit 8.6%, Nevada hit 9.4%, Texas hit 6.4%,

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Auto Market ndash; Autodata reported that General Motors US sales fell 53% in February on a Y/Y basis. Fordrsquo;s US sales fell 48%. Chryslerrsquo;s fell by 44%. Overall, US auto sales were down 41% in February 2009 over the same period last year.

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Housing Market ndash; Bloomberg reported that more than 8.3 million home owners are underwater on their mortgages. California and Texas lead the negative equity list. Homes lost $2.4 trillion in value last year. The National Association of Realtors said pending home sales fell 7.7% in January to a reading on its index of 80.4. Expectations were for the reading to come in at 85.1.

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Housing Market ndash; Mortgages ndash; 48% of US homeowners that have a subprime, adjustable-rate mortgage are behind on their payments or are in foreclosure. And 12%, or 5.4 million US homeowners with a mortgage of any kind are at least oen month late or in foreclosure at the end of last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Manufacturing ndash; The ISM reported that manufacturing contracted for the 13th straight month in February, through slower than expected.

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Oil ndash; It is nice to know that Exxon will be able to invest $29 billion in projects this year, and as much as $150 billion over the next five years. Why have we continued to subsidize the oil industry?

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Technology ndash; Gartner reported this week that the global PC industry is expected to see its sharpest shipment decline in history this year, contracting at 11.9% to 257 million units. Global semiconductor sales declined by about 29% in January to $15.3 billion.

Last 5 posts by Small Cap Pulse

• Cowen’s Stone Maintains Suntech (NYSE:STP) at NEUTRAL on Q3 Earnings Report - November 20th, 2009
• Cowen’s Stone Comments on Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL) Q3 Earnings - Maintains OUTPERFORM - November 20th, 2009
• Cowen’s Stone Raises Estimates on China Sunergy (Nasdaq:CSUN) - Maintains NEUTRAL - November 19th, 2009
• Bachman Says First Solar (Nasdaq:FSLR) Defects Reported in PHOTON Not an Issue - November 18th, 2009
• Cowen’s Stone Comments on SunPower (Nasdaq:SPWRA) Investigation - Maintains OUTPERFORM - November 17th, 2009