“Despite plunging gasoline prices (below $2 a gallon in some places), sales reports from most of the major U.S. retailers have been soft for several months. The latest round of reports released last month continued the trend. Target, Macy’s. Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Kohl’s, Tiffany (in other word, the gamut) and many more reported disappointing sales result … Yesterday, the Atlanta Fed reported that its GDPNow model is forecasting just 1.4% seasonally adjusted annual GDP growth in Q4, down from the prior 1.8% forecast. Part of the reason for the Q4 slowdown is the anticipated hit to growth coming from the necessary inventory reductions…. therefore, stopping quantitative easing (more than $1 trillion annually at its peak) as the Fed did late last year is tightening even though Wall Streeters are loath to admit it. As the result of this tightening, we’ve watched the broad stock markets slowly break down all year and the economy steadily weaken.”