Wanna laugh or cry?

Well, that would simplify things!  Just downgrade the world!!

Fitch Downgrades The Entire World

24/7 Wall Street,

12 December, 2011

Research firm Fitch downgraded its forecasts for the growth rate of almost every region in the world. It is yet another warning that the slowdown in the EU economy has begun to spread rapidly to other regions.

The firm wrote in a new note:

In its latest quarterly Global Economic Outlook (GEO) Fitch Ratings forecasts the economic growth of major advanced economies (MAE) to slow to 1.3% in 2011 and remain weak at 1.2% in 2012, followed by only a modest acceleration to 1.9% in 2013.

Compared with the previous GEO in October, Fitch has revised down its GDP forecasts over the entire forecast horizon to 2013. The agency forecasts global growth, based on market exchange rates, at 2.4% for 2012 and 3.0% in 2013, compared with 2.7% and 3.1% previously.

According to Fitch, the American economy will not escape the downdraft:

The recovery in the US will remain lacklustre in the short run with stronger growth momentum expected from H212 onwards, weighed down by the continued drag from the housing market as well as fiscal tightening equivalent to around 1% of GDP. In line with weak GDP growth in the EZ, the economic outlook has also weakened in the UK, where Fitch has revised down its GDP growth forecasts again to just 0.7% in 2012 and 2.0% in 2013.