Quick Overview

• The U.S. Institute of Supply Management index of services fell from 42.9 to 41.6

• (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday launched a $75 billion foreclosure relief plan, as new data showed one in five U.S. homeowners with mortgages owe more than their house is worth.
  

• Australia’s GDP fell 0.5%
  

• The U.S. DOE said:
  Supplies of crude oil fell 700,000 barrels 350.6 million
  Supplies of gasoline rose 200,000 barrels
  Supplies of heating oil rose 900,000 barrels.
  Refinery use rose from 81.4% to 83.1% of capacity.
  Gasoline demand rose 2.2% YoY
  Distillate demand fell 4.5% YoY.
  

• The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association lowered its estimate of this year's coffee harvest from 17 to 16 million bags.
  

• The number of containerships sitting idle worldwide is said to have soared to an historic high of 453 ships, that is 1.35 million TEU or 10.7 per cent of the world's box tonnage, AXS-Alphaliner News reports.

• (Reuters) - Switzerland's largest bank held its ground on Wednesday in a dispute with the U.S. government, refusing to disclose the names of tens of thousands of rich American clients suspected by U.S. authorities of using secret Swiss bank accounts to dodge U.S. taxes.

• The collapse of the Historical Archive of Cologne on Tuesday buried more than a millenium's worth of documents under tons of rubble. Archivists and historians hope something can be salvaged, but the future of the city's past is grim.