Futures hit session lows on durables data
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures dropped to session lows on Wednesday, extending an earlier drop, as data showing a larger-than-expected drop in durable goods orders for January heightened recession worries.

Confidence plunges, inflation rate soars
No good news today on the economic front. Consumer confidence plunged, the wholesale inflation rate soared, the number of homes being foreclosed jumped, home prices fell sharply and a report predicts big increases in health care costs.

U.S. Home Prices Plunge at Record Rate in 2007
The quarterly drop in prices of existing single-family homes quickened to 5.4 percent in the final three months of last year from 1.8 percent drop in the third quarter, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller National Index…. 

Vital Signs: Deeper Damage from Housing?
The potential economic fallout from housing may be far from over. That’s bad news for the economy at large. Once widely viewed as a well contained problem, economists are now worried that housing could stimulate a wide range of damage to the economy 

Russia quietly prepares to switch some oil trading from dollars to rubles
Companies and countries that buy petroleum products are encouraged to hold dollar reserves to pay for their supplies, coincidentally helping the American economy support its trade deficit. 

Dropping Gulf dollar peg would ease inflation: Greenspan
JEDDAH/ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday near-record Gulf Arab inflation would fall “significantly” were the oil producers to drop their dollar pegs, in contradiction to Saudi policy.
Why does Alan Greenspan hate America?

Dollar falls to record low against euro
After figures showed a sharp rise in U.S. home foreclosures and another fall in American consumer confidence, the euro hit an all time high of $1.50.