Friday, December 23, 2005

Quick Overview

  • U.S. Durable goods orders were up 4.4% in November, stronger than expected. Excluding transport, orders were down 0.6%.

  • The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased from 81.6 to 91.5 in December.

  • Sales of new homes dropped in November by the largest amount in nearly 12 years. U.S. new home sales were at an annual rate of 1.245 million units, down 11.3% from October's pace, the largest monthly drop since 1994. So far in 2005, new home sales are up 7% from a year ago.

  • The European Commission announced that they are ending their policy of giving rebates (subsidies) to beef exporters.

  • The U.S. Department of Energy said that ethanol production reached 269,000 barrels a day in October, a new record high in the U.S.

  • Germany's inflation rate averaged 2 percent in 2005, its highest level in four years, according to a government estimate released Friday.

  • Canada's GDP was up 0.2% in October and up 3.1% YoY.

  • China's car production in November grew 52.1 percent from the same month last year to a record 291,900 units, breaking the previous record set in June of 275,100 units, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics Friday.

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