Below is a chart and excerpt from today's Early Look written by Director of Research Daryl Jones. 

While it is not pretty, it is also not surprising. Consider the Chart of the Day below, which looks at U.K. GDP, Retail Sales, and Consumer Confidence.  The leading indicator of consumer confidence has collapsed and is near all-time low levels of -45. 

As expected, retail sales is following closely behind given today’s report and no doubt GDP will be the next to flip negative.  We will likely see this same story around the globe.

Reality can be ugly . . . unless you are proactively prepared for it.

CHART OF THE DAY: Great Britain Growth Indicators - gbp