Finanskrisen har forplantet seg til realøkonomien. Nå kommer de første kvartalstallene i USA som forteller om drastisk lavere inntjening. Da hjelper det ikke at pengemarkedsrenten går ned. Wall Street stuper igjen, og nå kommer sannsynligvis mange til å forstå at de ikke kommer til å gå opp på en god stund.

The problems have appeared in a range of industries. The aviation giant Boeing saw profits fall 38 percent last quarter. Merck, the pharmaceutical company, posted a 28 percent drop in net income and will cut jobs. The North Carolina-based bank Wachovia, which was recently acquired by Wells Fargo, suffered a $23.7 billion net loss.

At 3:45 p.m., the broad Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was down more than 8 percent. The Nasdaq composite index was off about 6 percent, despite gains in shares of Apple and Yahoo. The Dow, after falling more than 200 points on Tuesday, was off about 670 points to around 8,362.22, a decline of 7 percent.

Det er tid nok før valget til at budskapet vil synke inn, og det betyr høyst sannsynlig at Barack Obsma blir USAs første fargede president.

Stocks Decline as Earnings Reveal Fallout of Credit Crisis