Caterpillar Just Downgraded The Whole World

Q2 earnings came in at $1.45 per share, missing analysts' estimates for $1.68 per share.

As a bellwether of global economic activity, the numbers look good for almost no one.

Among other things, management downgraded it's forecast for global growth.

"World economic growth slowed in the first half of the year, and we are revising our growth estimates downwards," they said. "Although we expect some improvement in the second half, the improvement will be less than previously expected. Currently, we expect that world economic growth for 2013 will be a little over 2 percent, slightly slower than in 2012."

Here are some key bullets from their comprehensive economic outlook:

• In the first half of 2013, industrial production in over half the countries in the world remained below pre-recession peaks and unemployment remained high. These factors have slowed inflation, and we do not expect inflation to be a problem for the world economy in the second half of 2013.
• We expect weak growth, high unemployment and low inflation will encourage most central banks to continue pro-growth policies. Eighteen central banks cut interest rates this year, reducing average short-term rates to levels lower than 2009. We expect average interest rates to remain near record lows in the second half of the year.
• Near-zero interest rates are causing some central banks to inject funds (quantitative easing) into financial systems to promote lending and economic growth. Japan recently adopted more aggressive policies, which appear to be effective in improving economic growth. We expect these results will encourage other countries to take similar actions.