The Wall Street Journal leads today with the news that Mexico's economy saw significant contraction in the first quarter--GDP dropped 8.2 percent from a year ago and 21.5 percent annualized quarter-on-quarter.  The news came in a week when Germany and Japan also showed severe contraction.  

The four economies are tightly bound, and the Journal's Bob Davis says US consumers drove the decline:

All three countries depend on exports to the U.S. But they have nose-dived as U.S. consumers cut back purchases of autos, electronics and other goods mass produced abroad. For the first three months of 2009, U.S. merchandise imports declined about 30% to $352.5 billion compared with the same period a year earlier. Mexico's ties to the U.S. are particularly strong because of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and Mexican auto production in the first quarter fell 41% from the year before.

And bear in mind the H1Ni/swine flu fears didn't start to hit Mexico's tourism trade and overall economy until after the end of the first quarter.  

Read the full article here.