Thursday, July 14, 2011

Quick Overview

  • The Labor Department said that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits was 405,000 in the week ending July 9, a decrease of 22,000 from the prior week.

  • As heat wave looms this month, 39% of projected U.S. corn production has received less than an inch of rain.
  • Arlan Suderman: High overnight lows contributed greatly to 2010 low corn yields; If 4casts verify, 2011 will set record high July lows in Des Moines

  • (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. dollar got a slight boost on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke rejected the possibility of immediate action by the central bank to revive the economy.

  • Paul Volcker dismissed the possibility of a return to the gold standard, saying that, among other things, "I don't think there's enough gold in the world."

  • (Spiegel) Germans want to end nuclear power and turn to renewable energy, but they keep buying SUVs. Global carbon emissions and oil consumption have risen sharply over the last two environmentally conscious decades -- and the trends will continue, as long as Westerners keep discovering new "needs."

  • The end of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko's era appears to be approaching, as thousands take to the streets in Minsk to protest against the country's economic crisis.

  • Indian inflation rose to 9.44 % in June.

  • Chinas fiscal revenue rose 31.2% YoY to 5.69 trillion yuan (875.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year.

  • U.S. PPI shows  wholesale prices down 0.4% in June

  • Central banks have bought more gold in the first half of this year than in all of 2010 as a long-anticipated reversal in so-called "official sector" sales gathers pace, the World Gold Council said.

  • Brazil's National Institute for Space Research  (INPE) released satellite images indicating that Amazon deforestation increased from 103 km² in March and April 2010 to 593 km² in the same period of 2011, a sixfold increase from a year ago.

  • S&P warns of downgrade if no debt deal reached

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