Quick Overview

• The U.S. unemployment rate rose from 6.7% to 7.2% in December
  
• Non-farm payrolls revised from -533,000 to -584,000. This is the worst year for job losses since 1945
  
  

• Canada’s unemployment rate rose from 6.3% to 6.6%
  
• Canada’s building permits fell 11.8% in November.
  

• U.K. manufacturing output fell 2.9% MoM and down 7.4% YoY
  
• The Government should buy homes on the brink of repossession to help those people who may struggle to pay their mortgages through the recession two former Bank of England economists have recommended.

• Germany's government bails out Commerzbank, amid renewed anxiety about financial markets
  
  

• Agricultural commodities are "the most cheaply priced"
  of the commodity sectors, says Deutsche Bank. "
  
  

• Argentina’s weather forecasts flipped from wetter to not only drier, but much hotter. Argentina’s drier and warmer weather may spread into southern Brazil and Paraguay next week, increasing stress on corn and soybean crops.
  

• Continental, the world’s fifth largest airline has taken one of its passenger jets on a test flight using biofuel made from sustainable sources.

• (Reuters) - Israel rejected a U.N. resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday and jets and tanks again pounded the Palestinian enclave.