The BBC reports that US shares fall as spending data ignites economic fears

US stocks have fallen sharply amid renewed fears for the pace of recovery in the world’s biggest economy.

Wall Street’s three leading indexes each ended more than 2% down as another set of grim economic figures saw investors push gold to a fresh high.

Official data showed that US consumers cut spending in June, while incomes grew at their smallest rate this year.

News that Washington has agreed a deal to avoid a potentially disastrous default failed to bolster sentiment.

On Wall Street the Dow Jones index closed down 2.2% to 11,867, while the tech-rich Nasdaq fell 2.8% to 2,669.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.6% to 1,254, its lowest point of the year.

Gold reached another high of $1,640.39 an ounce as investors looked for a safe haven. There was also demand for the Swiss franc.

The fall in stocks came despite a long-awaited deal between the White House and Congress to increase the nation’s debt ceiling.

It isn’t ‘despite a long-awaited deal’, it is, in part, because of the content of the deal. Consumers aren’t spending, and now the Federal government will spend less. Demand will continue its downward spiral, and we will slip into another recession.

The economy needs a big stimulus package to get moving, and there isn’t going to be one, so the economy will tank again.

What has Zero done for the Democratic Party, he’s made it the home of Reagan Republicans.

The Miami Herald reports that Ex-GOP senator to run for House as Democrat

TALLAHASSEE — Saying the Republican Party has left her and is now owned by ideologues, former GOP state Sen. Nancy Argenziano says she will run for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat.

Argenziano will seek the District 2 seat in North Florida now held by freshman Republican Steve Southerland, who unseated longtime Democrat Allen Boyd in November 2010.

In a prepared statement Monday, Argenziano likened herself to a Ronald Reagan Republican.

“The current iteration of the party abandoned real Republican principles long ago to cater to ideologues and corporations — the Koch entities, most notably — whose interests lie in the profiteering of America and the sacking of the middle class,” Argenziano, 56, wrote in a letter announcing her candidacy.

“Current Republican leaders have neither patience with nor allowance for honest elected officials, and they demand that members of the various legislatures — who, after all, have sworn to uphold the Constitution — instead just follow the hijacked party line and shut up.”

The White House will be rushing to help her, because there can never be too many “blue dogs’ in the Democratic caucus.

Position: 16.2N 66.7W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [285°] near 14 mph [22 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 65 mph [100 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 120 miles [195 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb.

Currently about 125 miles [200 km] South of Ponce, Puerto Rico.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the Southeast Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for U.S. Virgin Islands.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]