What a Week: Blue Crush

It did little to relieve investors, who got to witness the impact on bottom-lines of rising energy costs during the first three months of the year. Ford(F) and Harley-Davidson(HDI) joined the growing bandwagon of companies reporting and lowering forecasts due to high oil prices.

Underneath it all was a slew of weaker-than-expected economic indications that bore witness to oil's bite. The trade deficit widened to a record monthly high of $61 billion in February, from an upwardly revised $58.5 billion in January, and above forecasts for a rise to $59 billion.

Retail sales, meanwhile, rose just 0.3% in March, below forecasts for sales to rise 0.8%. Excluding autos, sales only increased 0.1%, compared with expectations for a 0.5% gain.

Based on those two indicators, most economists revised their growth forecasts downward. Merrill Lynch, for one, trimmed its first-quarter growth forecasts to 3.5% from 4.3%. As for the second quarter, Merrill now expects growth of 3.2% instead of 3.5%.

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