Quick Overview

• Nonfarm business productivity grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.6% from January through March, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was up from a 2.1% rate in the preceding three months. The growth of unit labor costs accelerated, climbing to a 2.2% rate that was the largest in six months. In the year through March, those costs were up 2.5% - the highest rate in nearly four years.
  
  
• Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut its corporate credit ratings to junk status for both General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., a decision that will increase borrowing costs and limit fund-raising options for the nation's two biggest automakers.
  
  
• Chile's economy expanded 5.0 percent in March, the slowest growth since February 2004.

• International trade through the Los Angeles region will grow by more than 14% this year to a record $302.1 billion, according to an economic study released Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that underground natural gas supplies were up 39 billion cubic feet last week to 1.455 trillion cubic feet. Supplies are now up 20% from a year ago.
  
  
• Compared to one year ago, U.S. 2004-2005 exports for: Corn went from -7% to -6%. Soybeans went from +17% to +18%. Wheat remained at -10%.Cotton remained at -9%.
  

• USDA Secretary said that he wants to see a national animal identification system in place by 2009. The system would track the origin of all cattle, hogs, and chickens in the U.S.
  

• USDA Secretary also announced new rules allowing greater logging and mining in undeveloped areas of the national forest.
  

• An index of U.K. services fell from 57.0 to 56.5 in April, as expected.
  

• The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment rose a larger-than-expected 11,000 last week.
  
  
• Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said on Thursday that deflation continues to plague Japan despite a recovering economy and the government must not relent in its seven-year battle to eradicate it.
  
  
• YoY Brazils April Green Coffee Exports were up 10 percent at 1.71 M Bags.
  

• The DC-96 computer, developed by Orion Multisystems, offers a peak
  computing power of 230 gigaflops and 192 gigabytes of memory for $100,000....

• The tanker market is likely to be the first shipping sector to suffer an oversupply of tonnage, leading to earnings declines for the next three years, Citigroup Smith Barney tanker analyst John Kartsonas has warned.