Quick Overview

• U.S. industrial production fell 2.0% in December, and 7.8% YoY
  

• U.S. Consumer prices fell 0.7% in December. YoY prices rose 0.1% -- a half-century low. Excluding food and energy prices rose 1.8% YoY
  

• The Fed will hand Bank of America another $20 billion and guarantee $118 billion of “assets”.
  
• Citigroup posted an $8.29 billion loss, twice as much as analysts expected, and wants to split in two. They are trying to salvage what’s worth something – and get rid of the rest. For his troubles, Robert Rubin retiring from his post as senior counselor pocketed $115 million in pay since 1999, excluding stock options.

• (Bloomberg) -- The heads of the US Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. gave further momentum to the idea of a new government-backed bank to remove toxic assets from lenders’ balance sheets.
  

• The University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment rose from 60.1 to 61.9
  

• The Canadian Real Estate Association said home sales fell 17% YoY.
  

• Snow cover in southern Illinois and Missouri remains lacking, exposing wheat to the coldest temperatures in several years.
  

• Reuters reported that 300,000 cattle have died in Argentina's worst drought since 1961.