In yet another negative pre-announcement, following AMD, MAKO and AMAT (just to start, many more coming), Cummins (common bellwether among the talking-est heads) has just cut its revenue guidance dramatically. From expectations of a 10% jump in 2012 revenues, they have cut the full year to breakeven with 2011 now. S&P 500 futures dipped on this news and remain at the cliff's edge. CMI is down over 4% but thanks to a 25% boost in their dividend (makes perfect sense when cutting forecasts?) it's not more (yet - we expect more) - though this confirms some of the signals of increased leverage in credit land as cash piles get burned through just to support dividends or share prices.
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