Analysis: Be afraid: Some in U.S. see shades of 2008 in euro crisis

Grim. Serious. Terrifying. Nerve-rattling. These are the words some prominent American investors and strategists are using to describe the worsening debt crisis in the euro zone and its impact on the global economy.

These are the words some prominent American investors and strategists are using to describe the worsening debt crisis in the euro zone and its impact on the global economy.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's exports shrank unexpectedly in April as sales to China and Europe sputtered, underscoring increasing fragility in global demand, especially for the island's high-tech products.

U.S. stock futures retreated, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will extend its biggest weekly decline this year, as investors awaited a report on employment in the world’s biggest economy. F5 Networks Inc. tumbled 16% in German trading after lowering its forecast for second-quarter revenue. Cisco Systems Inc. and Juniper Networks Inc., the makers of communications equipment, declined more than 1.5%. Hanesbrands Inc. climbed 1.8% in late New York trading after saying it will start paying a quarterly dividend.

By Morningstar: By Adam Fleck, CFA

Charles Gave of GaveKal has a fascinating summary of where the nearly five-year long experiment in central-planning has taken the US, and by implication, global economy. To wit: What kind of failure?  

In the shadow of the euro crisis and America’s fiscal cliff, it is easy to ignore the global economy’s long-term problems. But, while we focus on immediate concerns, they continue to fester, and we overlook them at our peril. The most serious is global warming.

By Financial Sense: By Chris Puplava