Quick Overview

• Global refined copper supply was in a deficit of 305 thousand tons in 2010, according to International Copper Study Group (ICSG).
• Rio Tinto expects global copper consumption, over the next 20-30 years, to exceed the total historical consumption to date.
• Copper demand will exceed supply by 889,000 metric tons this year, Barclays estimated in a March 15 report.

• Global merchandise trade grew 17% in Q4 of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009 reaching US$4.1 trillion, slightly up on previous quarter, reflected in air freight and sea freight volume increases. Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) led the way.

• Starbucks Digital Network, debuts new content providers: The Economist, ESPN Insider and Mediabistro with Marvel Digital Comics coming soon.

• A piece of drill pipe trapped inside the Deepwater Horizon's blowout preventer kept the device from sealing the BP well, U.S. investigators said Wednesday.

• U.S. Crude oil stockpiles rose 2.1 million barrels to 352.8 million barrels, compared with an average survey estimate calling for a 1.7-million-barrel increase.
• U.S. Gasoline stockpiles fell 5.3 million barrels to 219.7 million barrels.

• U.S. sales of new homes fell 17% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 250,000, a record low. (The housing numbers are notoriously unreliable on a MoM basis) The median sales price was $202,100, while the average sales price was $246,000
  Inventories are at an 8.9 month supply.

• (Bloomberg) Meltzer, who has written a two-volume history of the central bank, said “inflation is coming.” Although price increases are currently “buried,” Meltzer said inflation “will come out as soon as housing prices stop falling.”