Quick Overview

• Agriculture production needs to expand by 70% through 2050, as the global population rises to 9.1 billion from 6.7 billion, Jacques Diouf, director-general at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said.
  

• Bernanke said Asian economies are leading the world economic recovery, but should focus on boosting consumption.
  

• Japan's tertiary index of services rose from 96.8 to 97.1 in August -- better than expected.
  

• British same-store sales rose 7.5% in September
  

• CWG - Nearly half of Brazil's wheat suffering major losses due to persistent rains this month. Brazil world's largest wheat importer (Arlan Suderman Farm Futures)
  

• Rain in Brazil is also delaying the harvest of sugarcane. Cazrnikow's director of research, Toby Cohen, said: "There simply will not be enough sugar to meet ongoing levels of demand. "Limits on supply require a forced adjustment of consumption. To this end it is clear that prices will need to move higher to ration demand."

• The USDA said that there were 10.474 million head of cattle on feed as of October 1st, up 0.6% YoY

• RBA: A “very expansionary setting of policy was no longer necessary, and possibly imprudent,” officials said

• Koyodo News reported that crude steel output in Japan in the April to September first half of fiscal 2009 fell by 29.6% YoY to 43.33 million tonnes, marking a 40 year low on a semiannual basis due to a plunge in demand.

• (Bloomberg) -- Burning coal to generate electricity in the U.S. causes about $62 billion a year in “hidden costs” for environmental damage, not including expenses related to global warming, the National Academy of Sciences said.