Quick Overview

• U.S. producer prices fell 0.9% in August, but rose 9.6% YoY. Excluding food and energy, prices rose 0.2% in August.
  

• U.S. retail sales fell 0.3% in August. Excluding autos, retail sales fell 0.7% in August.
  

• The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose 63.0 to 73.1.
  

• Japan's GDP fell 0.7% in the second quarter.
  

• Industrial production in the Euro area fell 0.3% in July.

• YoY China's retail sales rose 23% in August.
  

• Asia - Europe volumes continue to rise according to Far Eastern Freight Conference statistics, which record a 3.2% YoY westbound container throughput increase in July, and a 7.5% jump to 5.75 million TEU in the first seven months.
  
  

• The USDA's U.S. 2008-2009 ending stocks estimate for:
  Corn was reduced from 1.133 to 1.018 billion bushels.
  Soybeans unchanged at 135 million bushels.
  Wheat unchanged at 574 million bushels.
  Sugar was reduced from 767,000 to 505,000 tons.
  Cotton was increased from 4.6 to 4.9 million bales.
  

• The USDA's world 2008-2009 ending stocks estimate for:
  Corn was reduced from 112 to 110 million tons.
  Soybeans were increased from 49 to 51 million tons.
  Wheat was increased from 136 to 140 million tons.
  Cotton was increased from 51 to 52 million bales.
  
  

• The USDA's estimate of 2008 beef production unchanged at 26.69 billion pounds
  

• The USDA's estimate of 2008 pork production was reduced from 23.6 to 23.5 billion pounds
  

• INTERFAX-CHINA - Lower iron ore demand from China is a major factor behind the sliding Baltic Dry Index (BDI), a measure of the freight rates of raw materials, which plunged from above 10,000 points five months ago to around 5,000 points on Sept. 9, industry analysts told Interfax on Sept. 10.