Getting a bank card with a big line of credit used to be as easy as pie. Make an application and get 25% of your annual income as a line. Then spend, spend, spend. Who cares that the annual interest rate might be 18%? Use that home equity loan to pay off the card balance. It is still debt, but your home value is rising.

It looks like that whole cycle is over and that banks are going to sharply cut credit card availability to consumers. That, of course, will hurt retail sales and the nation's GDP.

According to Reuters, "The U.S. credit card industry may pull back well over $2 trillion of lines over the next 18 months due to risk aversion and regulatory changes, leading to sharp declines in consumer spending, prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney said."

Credit card caps could go so low that the overall access to capital using them may drop 45%.

The prediction shows the extent to which banks are now at odds with almost every other business in America. Financial firms have to keep capital to prevent raising money if they face more losses. Retailers and other business which rely on consumers to borrow need the banks to extend money to consumers to keep their buying power up.

Consumer credit provided by banks drove American economic expansion over the last five years. It is ironic that they are helping to kill it.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers shows consumer sentiment at a 26-year low: "The April result is the lowest since March 1982's level of 62.0., when the "stagflationary" period of low growth and high inflation was still an issue for many Americans."

But is that a bad thing? A quick look at history shows that it probably isn't. The last time consumer sentiment was this low was right before the beginning of the longest bull-run in history. The best book on that era is called Bull: A History of the Boom and Bust: 1982-2004. The chart below of the Dow Jones Industrial Average performance during 1980-2000 pretty much tells the story. See the little divot on the far left side? Yeah, that was 1982.

So don't get too depressed about consumer weakness. The last time things looked this bad, they ended up working out better than ever. And anyone who sold on the scary headlines regretted it very quickly.

Despite concerns to the contrary, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is still growing. It posted the first $100 billion quarter in its history. The world's largest retailer said net sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008 were $106.269 billion, an increase of 8.3% from the year-earlier period. Earnings from continuing operations were $1.02 per share, up 7.4% from 95 cents a year earlier, including a net charge of approximately 2 cents per share for certain items this year.

The top-line numbers were a bit misleading. US sales at the Wal-Mart flagship brand rose a pathetic 5% to $67.4 billion. Sales from international operations rose almost 19% to $27 billion. At that growth rate, overseas sales could match domestic sale in seven or eight years.

Operating income overseas rose over 14% to more than $1.7 billion, or 23% of the global total.

Wal-Mart says it expects expects earnings of 70 cents to 74 cents for the first quarter of fiscal year 2009, and between $3.30 and $3.43 for the full fiscal year 2009. Both numbers were below analysts' estimates of 74 cents and $3.44.

It is clear that Wal-Mart will now have to rely almost completely on international sales to meet its forecasts for the up-coming year. China and Mexico better deliver.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com

With economic worries sending luxury goods makers like Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) and Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) well off their highs, at least one super-investor who isn't afraid to go against the conventional wisdom is taking notice.

Nelson Peltz and his Trian funds have upped their stake in Tiffany from 5.6% to 7.9% amid continued weakness in the company's share price -- the stock is already down 20% year to date.

According to the Wall Street Journal [subscription], Peltz has previously said he isn't seeking a seat on the company's board, but wouldn't rule out the possibility of taking an activist stance somewhere down the road. Another big drop could prod him to step in and try to make something happen.

Tiffany recently reported a weak holiday sales period, a strong indication that the economic malaise that started in subprime may be carrying over to more upscale consumers. In recent years, Tiffany's and other luxury goods makers have seen their markets expand to include more luxury aspirational customers. Dependence on less wealthy consumers for sales growth may be making the luxury goods sector less immune to economic woes than it has been historically.

Consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level in two years in November, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers.

The figure was 76.1, above the 75 expected by economists but below October's 80.9 level, according to a Reuters report. What a shock.

This holiday season, many consumers aren't feeling that thankful for the worst housing market in 16 years -- according to the National Association of Realtors, housing prices fell in one-third of U.S. cities. Gas prices reaching $4 per gallon is further spooking people already nervous about the volatile stock market and the weak dollar. Oh, let's not forget about the prospect of $100 oil.

"We're facing extreme price increases in energy, and it's clear the consumer is becoming more aware of the pressures being put on them,'' Lindsey Piegza, an analyst at FTN Financial, told Bloomberg News. "I don't expect a collapse in spending, but it will be very weak for the holidays.''

I live on the West Coast, so I wake up to news of the early trends in the market. This morning seemed a bit glum, the kind of day that (if my mood was made entirely of markets) I might have just rolled back over.

Good thing I got up. By the end of the day, the DJIA had surged 187 points to 13,482.35, its biggest one-day gain since the summer of 2006 (ahh, the summer of 06!). The 10-year treasury rate had a lot to do with it -- falling to under 5.2% after a surge to 5.3% in the early hours.

Best of all, according to a quote from Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at Trusco Capital Management: "the consumer is holding up." Maybe that doesn't seem like a convincing reason to send stocks soaring (I'd love to see "filled with optimism" or "doing better than ever" or even "rolling in unspent greenbacks." That would be nice), but it was enough, and all the photos of traders would make good illustrations for The Wall Street Book of Smiles.

Because, hey, we're holding up.

Is that really all it takes?