Looks like crying time again for the European Union as the ECB opts for the status quo and the latest bleak PMI numbers reveal the EU remains in an economic quagmire.
France, which we wrote about earlier, given all its political turmoil, appears the sickest, with output falling faster than my relationship with my old girlfriend.
How fast is that? Forget speeding bullets. Forget too any talk about real new orders. If manufacturing has a cold, services have the flu. Whatever you can say bad about one you can say worse about the other.
The service sector declined in March for the 14th straight month. New employment in the sector now sports a batting average of zero for 15 months.
Cyprus might be off the front page, but it appears to have cast a long shadow when it comes to confidence. Botched bailout is the kinder, gentler term to describe the Cyprus mess.
Italy is still trying to figure out Italy and how to hold a real election. Spain's demise has been greatly under-exaggerated.
And Germany, the one so-called bright star of probity in the whole galaxy, looks to be flat-lining, logging it feeblest growth in months.
Some observers after their meeting today accused ECB president Mario Draghi of being a drag. Steady as she goes on the rates and no new ideas about how to plug the gapping hole the bow of the Good Ship Euroland.
The whole scene reminds of the little ditty we heard last time we were in Europe: "Don't let my boy grow up to be a Brussels' bureaucrat," the dying mother said. " Don't let him be a Brussels' bureaucrat, I'd rather see him dead."
Yes, it's crying time again and a lot of folks are hoping someone will get up and leave.
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