American and European consumers have been adversely affected by the global financial crisis of the past ten days, with news media on both continents reporting how it has spread to Main Street.  On Monday, October 6, European equity markets plunged from 6.06 to 9.14% on Monday, followed by additional losses in the U.S.  European and U.S. retailers are reporting a sizeable reduction in foot traffic in stores and a loss in sales, with all sales of major retailers anticipated to sharply decline in October.   Trillions of USD and euro value has been taken from household net worth.

China was the lone survivor in this calamity and was on holiday last week when the world markets had a meltdown.  The country's consumers continue to spend, with National Day Holiday retail sales surging 21% from a year ago to a new record of 420 billion yuan or approximately 61.3 billion USD.  Travel and sales throughout the China were very brisk.