More Evidence of Slowing Economy

Caterpillar reporting slowing global sales.
"We believe the driver of this /slowdown/ was the rapid decline in consumer sentiment that has been reported and is connected to the reduction in net pay consumers earn given the changes in tax rates that went into effect in January."
""We Are Confident There Is An Issue With The Consumer"
We’ve seen consumer sentiment change drastically within the last couple of months. We saw that after the first really payroll period in January, which is about the second week of January, we really start seeing a slowdown in Ancillary, Personal Training and membership sales." David Gallagher, CEO, NY Sports Clubs
FoxConn, China's largest private employer (800,000 workers) and manufacturer, and which manufactures Apple products, including the iPod and iPad, has initiated a hiring freeze. Slowing sales for Apple and other companies!