Well, if you are looking for “green shoots”, the New York Fed Empire State Manufacturing Survey is not one of them, they got worse (see picture).

Additionally, the NAHB Builder Confidence fell a bit in June, from 16 to 15, with 50 being neutral, so that remains awful.

When one considers that delinquencies on commercial mortgage backed securities broke 2%, this is a state of mind that accurately reflects the reality out there.

Still, another measure of consumer confidence, this one from the University of Michigan, , which is marginally better, but still well below the 10 year average of 88.2.

We also have two relatively well known business have filed for bankruptcy reorganization, Six Flags amusement parks and the Extended Stay hotel chain.

Meanwhile, in Ireland, deflation has hit an annual rate of -4.7%, which is not surprising. There are a lot fewer dollars (Euros) chasing goods there, now that their bubble has popped.

Still, it appears that foreign investors are more confident about the future on a global level, as they have cut back on purchases of long term US securities, as the flight to safety slowed/reversed.

Meanwhile, we are starting to see some inflation from the recovery in oil prices, with import prices rising 1.3%, largely on oil, though they are down by 17.6% (!) year over year.

This has driven the price of retail gasoline up again, and are now up 63% for the year, though crude oil fell today.

The dollar was up, largely on statements by Russia that it should remain the world’s reserve currency.