Major Health Insurance Carrier Cites Obamacare As Cause for Earnings Collapse

from Marketwatch:
UnitedHealth Group Inc. said it expects major losses on its business through the Affordable Care Act's exchanges and will consider withdrawing from them, in the most prominent signal so far of health insurers' struggles with the health law's marketplaces.
The disclosure by the biggest U.S. health insurer, which had just last month sounded optimistic notes about the segment's prospects, will sharply boost worries about the sustainability of the law's signature marketplaces, amid signs that many insurers' losses on the business continue to mount.

Caterpillar Sales Continue Decline

from Zero Hedge:
CAT has now suffered a record 35 months, or nearly 3 years, of consecutive declining annual retail sales - something unprecedented in company history! 

This is significant because Caterpillar is an industrial powerhouse and bellwether. With nearly three years of declining sales, it is a sign that the global economy is not well! 

Baltic Dry Freight Index Matches Record Low

from Zero Hedge:
Having fallen for 20 straight days, crushing the hopes and dreams of the mid-year bounce - and thoroughly breaking down from seasonally positive tendencies - The Baltic Dry Freight Index has collapsed to all-time (back to 1984) record lows.

Baltic Dry Index Revisits Record Low

With no ability to directly manipulate the Baltic Dry Index to 'pretend' everything is awesome, it remains among the best 'real' indicators of the state of the global economy... and it's in the toilet...