Quick Overview

• Japan's Tertiary industry index fell  0.9%  in May.

• MoM The University of Michigan’s consumer confidence index fell to 66.5  from 76

• Ex Fed chief Greenspan thinks Congress should let the tax cuts enacted by  Bush expire for all Americans in order to address the widening deficit.

• MoM the US CPI fell 0.1% -- the third straight monthly decline. However, the annualized rate came in better than expected at 1.1%.

• Citigroup fell 4% to $3.99 after reporting second-quarter profits dropped 38%.

• GE reported a 16% increase in quarterly profit -- ending a streak of nine down quarters.

• Google reported second-quarter profits that missed analysts’ estimates.

• YoY the US cocoa grind rose 12% in Q2 to 117,657 MT

• Assets held in Japan’s first exchange-traded funds backed by gold and other precious metals may increase eight-fold in a year as investors seek to protect their wealth in the country with the world’s biggest public debt -- said Osamu Hoshi, deputy general manager at Mitsubishi Trust and Banking

• U.S. senate passes financial reform bill -- Obama wants to sign it next week.

• India's M3 money supply rose an annual 15.3%, up from 14.5% in June

• China's July soybean imports will be 5.8 million metric tons, up 32% YoY, China's Ministry of Commerce reports Thursday.

• U.S. Lawmakers are considering lowering a tax credit for ethanol blenders from 45¢/gall to 36¢.

• (Reuters) - The world is enduring the hottest year on record, according to a U.S. national weather analysis, causing droughts worldwide and a concern for U.S. farmers counting on another bumper year.
  For the first six months of the year, 2010 has been warmer than the first half of 1998, the previous record holder, by 0.03 degree Fahrenheit, said Jay Lawrimore, chief of climate analysis at the federal National Climatic Data Center.