Monster or Myth?

SO IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED, just as the nay-sayers said it would. A memo is leaked suggesting that Korea’s central bank is considering switching out of dollars, and the value of the U.S. currency drops. Unexpectedly weak job market and retail figures hit the wires, and the experts scramble to be first in print with downward revisions of their growth-rate forecasts. Economists at a leading investment bank muse out loud about $100 oil, consumer prices tick up one month, and the inflation hawks circle the Fed. A few companies open the earnings-reporting season with bad numbers, and investors scramble for safety.