In an all too familiar pattern the Qatar Islamic Bank issued shares worth 3.8 billion riyals to Qatar´s sovereign wealth fund. Qatar Islamic shareholders the issue of about 39.38 million new shares at a price of 97 riyals to the Qatar Investment Authority. This is part of Qatar's $5.3 billion plan plan shore up investor confidence in the banking sector.

With all this talk about bailouts here in the U.S., one name is conspicuously absent: Sovereign Wealth Funds. These trillion-dollar national funds made news earlier in the year as they dove headway into big U.S. banks when they began to teeter. The SWFs figured they were buying low, severely underestimating the bottom of the market. So rather than get a bargain, they took a beating - and are now making a hasty retreat from the West.

The withdrawal of SWFs from American markets means that taxpayers must pick up the slack to the tune of $700 billion (or more). It could also mean that the disappearance of this source of capital could further delay any sustained recovery.

The Persian Gulf SWFs, in particular, are redirecting their funds to domestic projects, where they see a higher payoff, according to various news sources.

Dubai International Capital is turning its attention the Middle East, China and

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Consumer shows spooky signs of weakness… recession now unavoidable? How’s your 401(k)? Some scary stats on the average retirement savings plan. Haunting mortgage data… 10 million Americans suffer “negative equity”. U.S. finance capitalism dead or dying… Byron King on the new paradigm for global economic power. Eric Fry on investing during the post-crash bounce. Plus, one “surefire” sector during these frightening times.

Boo!

We begin today with a Halloween hypothetical: If you’re a mainstream economist or financial journalist, what’s the scariest possible scenario that could arise from an economic crisis?

Answer: That the ephemeral specter of the American consumer, whose purchases now make up over 70% of economic activity in I.O.U.S.A., would stop spending.

Uh-ho. In the third quarter

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