Quick Overview

• 12/20/10 China's soybean imports in November rose 47% compared with October and 90% YoY, to 5.48 million metric tons, the General Administration of Customs said Tuesday. Total imports from January to November increased 31% to 49.4 million tons.
• China November natural Rubber imports rose 53% vs 55% in October.
• China’s November Uranium imports at 2,181 tons rose 100% YoY.

• (Bloomberg) -- Uranium stocks, already trading at higher valuations than their national benchmark indexes, will rise further amid predictions the price of the fuel may surge as much as 30 percent, investors and analysts said.

• Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- One unidentified company has the potential to own at least 90 percent of the copper in warehouses monitored by the London Metal Exchange, the largest such position in two years, bourse data showed.

• Th People’s Bank of China increased key one-year lending and deposit rates by 25 basis points on Christmas Day in its second move since mid-October.
• "Inflation expectations are direr than inflation itself," Wen said, urging people to remain confident and government agencies to act to stabilize prices

• Sales of new single-family houses in the United States increased 5.5 percent in November.

• U.S. existing-home sales rose 5.6% MoM in November.

• French household consumption in manufactured goods rose by 2.8% in November.

• The IMF announced on Tuesday the conclusion of the limited sales program covering 403.3 metric tons of gold that was approved by the IMF in September 2009.

• Severe drought in major wheat production provinces of Henan, Hebei and Anhui has sparked supply concerns for 2011.

• Indonesia will raise a tax on crude palm oil exports to 20% for January from 15% this month

• 12/28/10 The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite home-price index fell 1.3% MoM and 0.8% YoY. Including homes that are in or close to foreclosure, there’s inventory of 7.2 million homes, or roughly 21 months of supply

• U.S. consumer confidence fell to 52.5 in December from an upwardly revised 54.3 in November.
• U.S. retailers 2010 holiday sales rose 5.5 % for the best performance in five years.
• The Chicago purchasing manager’s index rose from 62.5 to 68.6, the highest level since the late 1980s and above expectations.

• 1/2/11 QoQ Singapore’s GDP rose 6.9% in the three months through Dec. 31.

• The Centre for Economics and Business Research said the likelihood the euro area will exist in its current structure in a decade is 20 % as governments take unsatisfactory measures to tackle economic imbalances.

• 1/4/10 GM on Tuesday reported a 7.5% increase in December U.S. sales -- Ford reported a 6.7% increase.

• U.S. factory orders rose 0.7% in November, ahead of forecasts for a 0.1% increase.