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To be fair, the ECB faces a Herculean task. Whatever it does is sure to offend someone. Some of the weaker countries, like Greece, have lodged their own resistance to other ECB measures, such as demands for spending cuts meant to help countries achieve sustainable budgets. It's also unrealistic for investors to expect quick fixes to a problem that was so long in the making, said Christian Bertelsen, chief investment officer of Global Financial Private Capital in Sarasota, Fla. In the U.S., he noted, there was a half-year lag between the Treasury Department announcing it would buy stakes directly in banks in the fall of 2008 and investors becoming comfortable by the spring of 2009 that there wouldn't be uncontrollable bank failures. "People look at Euroland and say, `Why don't they get something done there?'" Bertelsen said. "How quickly they forget what a miserable six months it was here." In the U.S., thoughts of Europe were close at hand. General Motors and Kellogg reported lower quarterly profits and put some of the blame on Europe. In other trading: Knight Capital Group, the trading firm whose technical glitch sent trading of dozens of stocks into chaos early Wednesday, lost 63 percent of its value, plunging $4.36 to $2.58. In two days, it has lost 75 percent of its value. Abercrombie & Fitch dropped 15 percent and Aeropostale dropped 33 percent after both companies warned of weak second-quarter sales. Abercrombie lost $4.96 to $29.06. Aeropostale lost $6.37 to $13.08. A smattering of positive signs about the economy got lost in the greater maelstrom. Retailers including Target, Limited Brands and Gap announced that July sales beat expectations. Shares of all three companies climbed, with the biggest increase at Gap. It rose 13 percent, gaining $3.75 to $33.17.
[Associated
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