Wednesday, June 29, 2011 The American Trucking Associations advance seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage

Index decreased 2.3% in May after decreasing a revised 0.6% in April 2011. Aprils drop was slightly less than the 0.7% ATA reported on May 25, 2011. The latest drop put the SA index at 112.3 (2000=100) in May, down from the April level of 114.9. Truck tonnage over the last four months shows that the economy definitely hit a soft patch this spring, ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said. With our index falling in three of the last four months totaling 3.7%, it is clear why there is some renewed anxiety over the economic recovery. With oil prices falling and some of the Japan-related auto supply problems ending, I believe this was a soft patch and not a slide back into recession, and we should see better, but not great, economic activity in the months ahead. ATA

Bank of America and its Countrywide unit will pay $8.5 billion to settle claims that the lenders sold poor-quality mortgage-backed securities that went sour when the housing market collapsed. The Charlotte, N.C., bank says the settlement with 22 investors is subject to court approval and covers 530 trusts with original principal balance of $424 billion. WaPo stock is up ~5% in pre-market. Obama holding a press conf today at 11:30amET. Obama also likely will address his plan for withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan as well as the deficit. Bloomberg Is the debt ceiling unconstitutional? Reuters Breaking Views says it may be. Investors really haven't focused much on the whole debt ceiling drama, thinking that at the end of the day a deal will be struck to avoid some type of a default taking place after Aug 2this article though says the ceiling itself may actually be unconstitutional and that if push came to shove the president can simply decide to move forward w/debt sales + payments Reuters BLKs Larry Fink says he wants to be 100% in Equities at the moment. "I am not afraid of Treasuries but if my accountants would allow me I would be 100 percent in equitiesEquities are historically cheap, but people are still going out of equities. CNBC