UT Recession ahead? A survey of the gathering storm as consumers pull back, businesses feel pain
Everything has gotten tremendously more expensive,” said Rizzo, 45, who is married with a 15-year-old daughter. “We don't go out to dinner now. We don't take vacations. We've had to make a lot of adjustments to our lifestyle.”

ECON Flashing red: Why the markets tumbled
IT APPEARS to be an old-fashioned case of risk aversion. Stockmarkets are plunging (the FTSE 100 was down more than 300 points, or 5% just after noon in London, on Monday January 21st), commodity prices are dropping and investors are flocking to the safety of government bonds and currencies like the Swiss franc and yen. Speculative bonds now yield seven percentage points more than US Treasuries, the highest spread since April 2003.

US Federal Reserve

NYT Fed Makes Emergency 0.75% Rate Cut
The Federal Reserve, responding to an international stock sell-off and fears about a possible United States recession, cut its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point on Tuesday.

UT Stocks plunge worldwide amid pessimism over U.S. stimulus plan
Stocks fell sharply worldwide Monday following declines on Wall Street last week amid investor pessimism over the U.S. government's stimulus plan to prevent a recession.

UT Consumers pull back on spending, worry more about debt as economy weakens
Across America, there are growing signs that consumers are worried about the weakening economy, which could slip into recession. While some say Americans are not famed for their belt-tightening tactics, there are signs that people are trying to improve their personal balance sheets so they're ready for tougher times.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, said the economic signals “are flashing yellow,” suggesting that consumers need to take care.