Quick Overview

• U.S. and Chinese economic leaders pledged to keep up stimulus efforts and to rein in trade and investment imbalances.
  

• U.S. durable goods orders fell 2.5% in June. Excluding transportation orders rose 1.1%
  

• U.S. mortgage applications fell 6% last week
  

• Japan June Retail sales fell 3.0% YoY (-2.5% expected)
  

• New Zealand Jul y Business Confidence rose to 18.7 from 5.5 in June.
  

• Germany’s July CPI fell 0.1% MoM and 0.6% YoY (+0.2%/-0.3% expected)
  

• The U.S. DOE said:
  Supplies of crude oil rose 5.1 million barrels last week to 347.8 million barrels.
  Supplies of gasoline fell 2.3 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil rose 200,000 barrels.
  Refinery use fell from 85.8% to 84.6% of capacity.
  Gasoline demand rose 0.8% YoY
  Distillate demand fell 10.7% YoY.
  

• Coal supplies at U.S. power plants grew 0.5% WoW and 28% YoY amid unusually feeble summer demand, Genscape said.
  

• Container throughput at China ports fell 10.9% in the first half of 09.
  

• Shanghai’s foreign trade value fell 15.1% YoY but rose 13% MoM
  

• Egypt removed duties from imported sugar to help stabilize the price
  

• India is expected to import up to 5 million tonnes of sugar in 2009/10 Sucden said.

• Monsoon is weakening again in India with little rain forecast in the main bean growing areas next 5 days and longer.

• Microsoft and Yahoo unveiled a 10-year deal to create an online search and advertising partnership to challenge Google

• The determination to spit a cherry stone further than his friends almost killed a German man at the weekend when he fell off his balcony in the process, police said.