Despite the nasty broad market selling, a ray of hope poked through the clouds today in the guise of Caterpillar (CAT) earnings

Despite the nasty broad market selling, a ray of hope poked through the clouds today in the guise of Caterpillar (CAT) earnings. The world's largest producer of mining and construction equipment provides a good guideline for how the global economy is doing. Fortunately for the economy, CAT is forecasting earnings and revenues for 2014 that are higher than analysts' expectations. The biggest boost is coming from a recovery in the US building industry. Nevertheless, the company projects world economic growth at 3% for the year - up from 2% last year. While that number is hardly earth-shattering, slow growth is far preferable to no growth. The one negative from the report is the expected slowdown in mining equipment revenues, with an expected decline of 10%. CAT did say the worst is behind us regarding the mining slump. (VIEW LINK)