Quick Overview

• U.S. Durable goods for August fell 1.3%, the largest decline in a year, but excluding transportation orders, new orders rose 2%.

• The ICG cut its global rice production forecast for 2010-11 by 1.9 million tons to 453.7 million metric tons due to lower-than-expected production in Indonesia and China.

• National Australia Bank upgraded its wheat production forecast for this crop year to 23.1 million metric tons from a 22.2 million-ton estimate. The figure remains below the official estimate of 25.1m tonnes announced last week.

• France's GDP grew 0.7 %in Q2

• The unemployment rate in Brazil dropped to 6.7 % in August, compared to 8.1% in the same period last year.

• Drought in Brazil has pushed water levels in the Amazon River to the lowest since 1963, according to the National Water Agency.

• (Bloomberg) -- Half of Russian winter-grain plantings, already almost a third lower than last year, failed to sprout or are thin, the national Grain Producers’ Union said.

• German Ifo business climate index rose to its highest level in more than three years