Quick Overview

• U.S. retail sales fell 0.1% in February, not as bad as expected.
  

• U.S. new jobless claims rose 15,000 last week to 654,000.
  

• Japan's GDP fell 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2008
  

• Australia's unemployment rate rose from 4.8% to 5.2%
  

• Switzerland reduced its interest rate from 0.50% to 0.25%

• China's Premier Wen Jiabao expressed concern over the outlook for the U.S. government debt China holds and said he hopes the U.S. will ensure the safety of those assets.
  
  
  

• S&P lowered GE’s debt ratings one level to AA and raised the outlook to stable.

• Fitch cut Buffett’s Berkshire AAA debt rating to AA+
  

• Liechtenstein said it will relax its tradition of bank secrecy and promised closer cooperation with international tax-evasion probes according to OECD standards.
  

• Madoff pleaded guilty -- the judge ordered jail pending sentencing and revoked bail.
  

• (Bloomberg) -- U.S. household wealth fell by a record $5.1 trillion from October to December, almost twice the decrease in the previous quarter, as home values and stock prices plunged, Federal Reserve figures showed.
  

• U.S. Drought Monitor continues to show dry to severe drought conditions in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

• The China National Grain and Oils Information Center expects the country's output of grains in 2009 to be lower for the first time in six years.
  It projects wheat output to be down 1.3% to 111 million metric tons
  It projects corn output to be down 1.5% to 163 million tons
  It projects soybean output down 3.2% to 15 million tons