Earlier on Thursday, CNBC reported that Greenspan raised his view of chances of a U.S. recession to 50%, from 30%:
"Greenspan said it's too soon to say whether a recession is coming, "but the odds are clearly rising."
The former Fed chair is downright chipper compared with some of the data crunchers over at Merrill Lynch: They look at the simple formula involving the Yield Curve and Corporate Spreads. This correctly forecast the 2001 and 1990-91 recessions.