Quick Overview

• U.S. orders for durable goods fell 6.2% in October, weaker than expected. Excluding transportation, orders fell 4.4%.
  

• U.S. New home sales fell 5.3% MoM. YoY new home sales are down 37%.
  

• The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell from 57.6 to 55.3.
  

• U.S. personal incomes rose 0.3% in October
  

• U.S. Consumer spending fell 1.0%.
  

• The Chicago index of purchasing managers fell from 37.8 to 33.8 in November.
  

• The European Union is plotting a 200 billion euro stimulus plan.
  

• Australia's construction activity rose 4.4% in September
  

• China cut its interest rate from 6.66% to 5.58%,
  

• Ports in China registered a 6% per YoY volume growth in October.
  

• The World Bank expects China's economy to expand 7.5% in 2009 - down from its earlier forecast of 9.2%
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said:
  Supplies of crude oil rose 7.3 million barrels to 320.8 million barrels.
  Supplies of gasoline rose 1.9 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil fell 400,000 barrels.
  Refinery use rose from 84.9% to 86.2% of capacity last week.
  Gasoline demand fell 2.8% YoY
  Distillate demand fell 2.2% YoY.