Quick Overview

• The House of Representatives approved the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement early Thursday after intense last-minute lobbying by the White House.
  
  

• The Standard & Poor's 500 index and Nasdaq composite index both reached four-year highs.
  

• The USDA drought monitor shows severe to extreme drought conditions persisting in northern Illinois and northeast Missouri.
  

• U.S. jobless claims were up 5,000 last week to 310,000.
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that underground supplies of natural gas increased 42 billion cubic feet last week to 2.381 trillion cubic feet.
  

• Germany's unemployment rate improved from 11.7% to 11.6% in July.
  

• Argentina's trade surplus narrowed in June to $692 million from $908 million in June 2004, the lowest surplus for any month in nearly four years, the Economy Ministry said on Thursday.
  
  

• YoY Retail sales in Japan were up 3.1% in June.

• ITALY’s shipowners have called for military protection following two attacks in a week on Italian vessels off the coast of Somalia.