Friday, July 31, 2009

Quick Overview

  • U.S. GDP fell 0.2% in Q2 and 2.4% YoY

  • YoY the U.S. employment cost index rose 1.8% in June.

  • Chicago Purchasing Managers' index rose from 39.9 to 43.4 in July

  • Canada’s GDP fell 0.5% in May and 3.5% YoY.

  • Japan’s June Jobless Rate rose to 5.4% (5.3% expected) and 5.2% in May

  • YoY Japan’s June Household Spending rose 0.2% YoY (0.5% expected)

  • Unemployment rate in the EU rose from 8.8% to 8.9% in June.

  • EU July CPI fell 0.6%. (-0.4% expected)


Thursday, July 30, 2009

Quick Overview

  • U.S. jobless claims rose 25,000 last week to 584,000.

  • Japan's industrial production rose 2.4% in June -- and 8.3% in Q2
  • On this news copper rose to the highest close in nine month.

  • Canada’s industrial prices rose 0.7% MoM, but fell 5.4% YoY

  • The USDA said that China bought 70.5 mln bu of soybeans this AM. 4.4 mln bu is old-crop; rest is new-crop.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Quick Overview

  • U.S. and Chinese economic leaders pledged to keep up stimulus efforts and to rein in trade and investment imbalances.

  • U.S. durable goods orders fell 2.5% in June. Excluding transportation orders rose 1.1%

  • U.S. mortgage applications fell 6% last week

  • Japan June Retail sales fell 3.0% YoY (-2.5% expected)

  • New Zealand Jul y Business Confidence rose to 18.7 from 5.5 in June.

  • Germany’s July CPI fell 0.1% MoM and 0.6% YoY (+0.2%/-0.3% expected)

  • The U.S. DOE said:
    Supplies of crude oil rose 5.1 million barrels last week to 347.8 million barrels.
    Supplies of gasoline fell 2.3 million barrels
    Supplies of heating oil rose 200,000 barrels.
    Refinery use fell from 85.8% to 84.6% of capacity.
    Gasoline demand rose 0.8% YoY
    Distillate demand fell 10.7% YoY.

  • Coal supplies at U.S. power plants grew 0.5% WoW and 28% YoY amid unusually feeble summer demand, Genscape said.

  • Container throughput at China ports fell 10.9% in the first half of 09.

  • Shanghai’s foreign trade value fell 15.1% YoY but rose 13% MoM

  • Egypt removed duties from imported sugar to help stabilize the price

  • India is expected to import up to 5 million tonnes of sugar in 2009/10 Sucden said.

  • Monsoon is weakening again in India with little rain forecast in the main bean growing areas next 5 days and longer.

  • Microsoft and Yahoo unveiled a 10-year deal to create an online search and advertising partnership to challenge Google

  • The determination to spit a cherry stone further than his friends almost killed a German man at the weekend when he fell off his balcony in the process, police said.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Quick Overview

  • The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller's index of U.S. home prices rose 0.5% in May, but fell 17.1% YoY (17.9% expected) -- The first monthly increase in nearly three years

  • New Zealand June Trade Balance out at -417M (+215M expected)

  • MoM Sweden’s June PPI fell -0.8% (+0.1% expected)

  • Sweden’s June Retail Sales fell -0.4% MoM (-0.3% expected)

  • GE said the finance arm was on track to earn about $2 billion to $2.5 billion this year.

Monday, July 27, 2009


Surging Profit Estimates Signal 26% Rally for S&P 500
(Bloomberg) -- Analysts are raising U.S. profit estimates for the first time since credit markets froze two years ago,..

Quick Overview

  • MoM U.S. New-home sales rose 11% in June, the third increase in a row and more than expected. September lumber is steady to higher.

  • German consumer confidence rose to 3.5 points, up from 3 points -- a 14-month high.

  • The USDA said on July 1st there were 101.8 million head of cattle in the U.S. down 1.45% YoY and the lowest in 36 years.

  • (WSJ) After the driest June in 83 years, four of India's 28 provinces have declared drought. More than half of Uttar Pradesh state, India's most populous state and a key rice- and sugar cane-growing region.

  • The % of ETF's on our list of 718 funds that are up in the last 20 days is at 86%

  • (Reuters) - The Australian dollar jumped against the dollar and the yen on Tuesday after Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said the Australian economy had fared well enough that upside risks to the outlook now balanced out those on the downside

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Quick Overview

  • U.S. jobless claims rose 30,000 last week to 554,000.

  • There is currently a 9.4 month supply of homes for sale in the U.S.

  • Sweden’s June Unemployment Rate rose 0.8% to 9.8% in May

  • Euro Zone May Current Account out at -1.2B vs. -6.1B in Apr.

  • UK June Retail Sales rose 1.2% MoM vs. -0.9% in May

  • Canada’s consumer confidence rose from 82.1 to 82.9 in July

  • The USDA said that there were 579 million pounds of frozen pork in storage, up 9% YoY

  • Frozen bellies totaled 76.4 million pounds, up 3% YoY

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Quick Overview

  • US Weekly Consumer Confidence out at -50 as expected

  • US exports are forecast to fall 13.6% this year, but expected to rise 1.7% next year according to a Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI report.

  • Australia’s Q2 Consumer Prices rose 0.5% QoQ.

  • YoY Japan’s June Supermarket Sales fell -4.4%

  • MoM Euro Zone May Industrial New Orders fell -0.2%

  • UK July CBI Total Orders Index fell to -59 versus -51 in June.

  • Canada’s retail sales rose1.2% in May

  • The U.S. Department of Energy said:
    Supplies of crude oil fell 1.8 million barrels last week to 342.7 million barrels.
    Supplies of gasoline rose 800,000 barrels
    Supplies of heating oil rose 800,000 barrels.
    Refinery use fell from 87.9% to 85.8%.
    YoY Gasoline demand rose 0.7%
    YoY Distillate demand fell 11.0%.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Quick Overview

  • Bernanke shed light on the Fed's exit strategy, but made clear to lawmakers that the economy remains too weak to start tightening monetary policy.

  • Bank of Canada leaves rate unchanged at 0.25% as expected

  • The U.K.'s June budget deficit of $21.4 billion is the biggest since records began in 1993.

  • YoY New Zealand June Credit Card Spending fell -2.1%

  • YoY Japan June Department Store Sales fell -8.8%

Monday, July 20, 2009

Quick Overview

  • U.S. leading indicators rose 0.7% in June, better than expected.

  • Canada’s May Wholesale Sales dropped -0.3%

  • UK July House Prices rose +0.6% MoM and -3.1% YoY

  • Australia’s Q2 Producer Price Index fell -0.8% QoQ

  • Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) more than tripled after the company and GlaxoSmithKline said their experimental lupus drug reduced patients’ symptoms in a yearlong study.

  • Germany’s June Producer Prices fell -0.1% MoM

  • Cocoa futures rose above a 5-month high on fund buying and better than expected North American Q2 grind data.

  • (MarketWatch) -- A package of government bailout packages could cost $23.7 trillion, according to testimony prepared by a special inspector general expected to appear on Capitol Hill this week.

Saturday, July 18, 2009


Mobius Says China Market Value to Overtake U.S. in Three Years
China’s market is valued at $3.2 trillion, compared with $11.2 trillion in the U.S., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, a benchmark for U.S. equities, has gained 4.1 percent in 2009, while China’s 4 trillion-yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package lifted the Shanghai Composite Index 75 percent this year.

Fiscal ruin of the Western world beckons
No doubt Ireland has been the victim of a savagely tight monetary policy e_SEmD given its specific needs. But the deeper truth is that Britain, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, the US, and Japan are in varying states of fiscal ruin, and those tipping into demographic decline (unlike young Ireland) have an underlying cancer that is even more deadly. The West cannot support its gold-plated state structures from an aging workforce and depleted tax base.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Quick Overview

  • MoM U.S. Home construction unexpectedly rose 3.6% in June but fell 52% YoY

  • Australia Q2 Import Price Index fell -6.4% QoQ

  • China's June Wholesale Prices fell -8.0% YoY

  • Norway's Q2 Existing Home Prices rose 5.3% YoY

  • Euro Zone May Construction Output fell -2.0% MoM.

  • Canada's June CPI rose +0.3% MoM and fell 0.3% YoY

  • Canada's June Leading Indicators fell -0.1%

  • YoY the USDA expects pork production to fall 3% in Q3 and down 2% Q4

  • The USDA expects beef production to fall 8% in 2009 and rise 9% in 2010.

  • The North American cocoa grind totaled 105,123 tons in Q2, down 6.75% YoY

  • More than 650,000 Americans will have used up all of their unemployment benefits by September.

  • GE announced Q2 2009 earnings of $2.9 billion, or $.26 per share, down 47% from Q2 of 2008.

  • Blogs claim Microsoft is close to sealing a deal to buy Yahoo's search business

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Quick Overview

  • U.S. jobless claims fell 47,000 last week to 522,000.

  • The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's regional index of manufacturing fell from -2.2 to -7.5 in July.

  • YoY China's GDP rose 7.9% in Q2 after a 6.1% gain in the previous three months

  • China June Producer Price Index fell -7.8% versus -7.2% in May

  • China June Consumer Price Index fell -1.7% versus -1.4% in May

  • China June Retail Sales rose 15.0% China Jun. Industrial Production rose 10.7% YoY

  • China’s exports fell 21.4% in June -- that was an improvement over May's record 26.4% drop.

  • Japan’s tertiary index of services fell 0.1% in May.

  • The International Coffee Organization raised its estimate of 2008-2009 world coffee production from 126.1 to 128.8 million bags

  • (FT) CIT said overnight there was no “appreciable likelihood” of a government bailout, leaving the company facing a bankruptcy filing unless another last-minute restructuring deal can be struck.

  • J.P. Morgan Chase reported a 36% jump in profit.

  • Imports at the leading container ports increased 5% MoM compared with April, but were down 20% YoY.

  • (Economic Times) Jim Rogers "I do actually have a silver coin in my pocket. I also have a gold coin, but the silver one is probably my better play. If I were a bright young man, I would be buying sugar now and silver, given the state of the world. That's not a recommendation, but I am just saying I do own some silver. Silver is cheaper than many things on a historic basis and I do own some silver," Rogers said.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Quick Overview

  • U.S. industrial production fell 0.4% in June.

  • US June Capacity Utilization fell to 68.0% vs. 67.9% expected and 68.2% in May

  • The N.Y. Feds regional index of manufacturing rose from -9.4 to -.6 in July

  • Japan left target rate unchanged at 0.10% as expected

  • Euro Zone June CPI rose 0.2% MoM. Core CPI rose 1.4% YoY

  • Bloomberg's Global Confidence Indicator fell to 39.13 in July from 43.57 in June

  • Canada May Manufacturing Shipments fell -6.0% vs. -2.5% expected

  • The U.S. Department of Energy said:
    Supplies of crude oil fell 2.8 million barrels to 344.5 million barrels
    Supplies of gasoline rose 1.5 million barrels
    Supplies of heating oil rose 500,000 barrels.
    Refinery use rose from 86.8% to 87.9% of capacity
    Gasoline demand rose 0.6% YoY
    Distillate demand fell 11.7% YoY.

  • China bought another 4.2 million bushels of old-crop soybeans this AM

  • Brazil is expected to produce a record 52 million 60-kg bags of coffee in the 2010/11 crop year, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.

  • YoY Russian 2009/10 sugar output is set to fall below 2.9 million tonnes from 3.5.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009


Microsoft Research and Bill Gates Bring Historic Physics Lectures to Web
Richard Feynman lectures delivered at Cornell University in 1964

The Great American Bubble Machine
What you need to know is the big picture: If America is circling the drain, Goldman Sachs has found a way to be that drain —

Quick Overview

  • U.S. retail sales rose 0.6% in June. Excluding autos, sales rose 0.3%

  • U.S. producer prices rose 1.8% in June, but fell 4.6% YoY

  • Industrial production in the EU rose 0.1% in May, but fell 15.9% YoY

  • U.K.'s consumer prices rose 1.8%

  • UK June Retail Sales rose 3.2% YoY

  • UK May DCLG House Prices fell -12.5% YoY

  • Business confidence in Australia rose from -2 to +4 in June

  • China's foreign-exchange reserves rose a record $178 billion in Q2 to $2.132 Trillion

  • Intel said sales will reach $8.9 billion in the current quarter, surpassing the $7.86 billion estimated by analysts.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Cash-strapped Boston zoo may be forced to close doors, euthanize animals

Spain seeks sunken treasure
Gold bullion and silver treasure worth an estimated £85billion - the size of the nation's current budget shortfall - lies on the sea bed off the coast of southern Spain.