The bleeding continued today.  The Dow closed below 9500 at 9460, down almost 500 points.  S&P closed down 60, ending at 996.  The Fed promised to buy commercial paper, presumably to help the credit markets.  Sure didn’t help the equity markets.  Are we at a tradeable bottom yet?  No telling, just keep your eye on the support/resistance on the charts.

Two-thirds of the GDP is consumer credit.  The Consumer Credit numbers for August came in, and it shows a big contraction:

AUG CONSUMER CREDIT: $-7.9B V $5BE, FIRST DROP SINCE 1998
- prior revised from $4.6B to $5.2B
- Annualized credit growth -3.7% v 2.4% in July

Bank of America continues to try and unload more debt onto investors by selling shares.  But, it seems they can’t find enough suckers, so they have fallen short of the $10 Billion they’re looking for.

YUM brands (Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut) reported tonight: (they need to worry about that China connection)

REPORTS Q3 $0.58 V $0.54E, R $2.84B V $2.78BE; REAFFIRMS FY FORECAST
- Reports Q3 SSS  (% in mainland china) up 3%
- Reports Q3 operating margin 18.4% v 17.2% y/y
- Guides FY08 $1.89 v $1.90e (as given on 7/16)
- Q3 mainland China unit growth was 21%; Q3 mainland China SSS up 5%

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