By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor First-quarter growth in the 15-nation Eurozone was weaker than first reported, yet another worrying development for a region already struggling with soaring inflation. The combined Eurozone economy grew by 0.7% in the first quarter compared to the three months prior, revised down from a previous forecast of 0.8%, Eurostat reported. While the figure is still relatively strong, a U.S. slowdown, rampant inflation, and low consumer demand could drag the economy down even further in the second half of the year. The European Commission’s gauge of consumer confidence declined to a level of -17 in June from -15 in May. Economic sentiment declined to 94.9 from 97.6 in May. Much of the decline was attributed to a steep rise in Eurozone inflation, which hit a 16-year high of 4% in June. “The surge in food and energy prices is ...

Alcoa (AA) earnings are the traditional kick off of every quarterly earnings season. I don't really follow this name much simply because, while it's a basic material, aluminum is not exactly my favorite. But I'd like to show readers the reality behind the numbers, while the seals on CNBC were clapping and hooting and hollering about the "beat". I'd also like to show you a trend you will be seeing this earnings season, and the ones coming - higher input costs. And squeezed profit margins - we've been warning about this "era" coming since last summer. It's now here.First to the "great news" - Alcoa "beat" estimates - 66 cents versus 65 cents. So the seals cheer "better than expected". It's a joke. 90 days ago Alcoa was expected to do 77 cents, 60 days ago that was lowered ...

As a cheerful Bloomberg headline reminds us, equity investors are facing their worst June since the Great Depression. And sure enough, most major markets (the Hang Seng, Dax, CAC, S&P 500 … ) are down more than -8% this month, pulled lower by a number of concerns including a) the health of Western banks, b) the rise in oil prices, c) deteriorating economic growth and d) worsening inflationary pressures.

If the current month ended today the Dow Jones Industrial Index would be down 9.4% and have locked in the worst June since 1930. Check the following chart, coursey of Paul Kedrosky, for the painful picture.

“Granted, June 2008 is not in the top 30 bad months of all time, so let’s keep our

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