More bad news hit the headlines as the markets reopened after a 3 day weekend. The Empire State manufacturing index fell to a -34.7, much poorer than the consensus -22. Importantly, the index signaled an important shift to a much greater pessimism for the coming six months. The administration is now indicating to tax payers that their election motto that "hope is coming" will be replaced by patience, sacrifice and having a determined willingness to hang in there. The only sector that was green today was Gold. Most all other sectors were down over 2%, the weakest was Banks and Oil Services.