Quick Overview

• The U.S. Commerce Department said that durable goods orders rose 1.9% in April, stronger than expected and the first gain in 05. Excluding transportation, orders were down 0.2% on the month.
  

• median sales price of a new home rose 3.8% YoY to $230,800.
  U.S. new home sales were at an annual rate of 1.316 million units in April, up 0.2% from March's pace and a new record high. So far in 2005, new home sales are up 6% from a year ago. The

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that crude supplies were down 1.6 million barrels last week to 332.4 million barrels. Unleaded supplies were up 600,000 barrels and heating oil supplies were up 1.6 million barrels.
  

• China can and should move quickly toward a more flexible currency to help rebalance world trade, Federal Reserve Governor Ben Bernanke said. And a Chinese trade official on Wednesday commented that a move to allow the country's currency to trade more flexibly would eventually involve attaching the yuan to a basket of currencies
  

• Goldman Sachs reiterated buy ratings on Internet heavyweights eBay Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. on Wednesday, saying the online industry this year will see a jump in advertising as broadband access continues to spread.
  

• The U.K.'s National Statistics office reduced the estimate of first quarter growth from 0.6% to 0.5%. YoY GDP was up 2.7%.
  

• An index of German business confidence from the Ifo Institute dropped from 93.3 to 92.9 in May, the lowest in two years.
  

• YoY Japan's exports were up 7.8% in April, while imports were up 12.7%.
  

• Malaysia's GDP was up an annual rate of 5.7% in the first quarter, more than expected.
  

• A USDA official estimated Vietnam's 2005-2006 coffee crop at 12.2 million bags, down 1.8 million bags from the previous year.