Quick Overview

• China raised rates to 6.31% from 6.06%.

• The ISM index decreased to 57.3 from 59.7 in February

• The Supreme Court opened the door to a new form of state support for religious schools, upholding special tax credits in Arizona for those who give money to church schools.

• The Fed's Bernanke is watching inflation “extremely closely” for evidence that rising commodity costs are having more than a temporary impact on consumer prices.

• TEPCO: radioactive seawater 7.5 mln times the legal limit.

• Global economy is forecast to grow by a solid pace of 4.3 percent this year and 4.5 percent next year, the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics said

• The U.S. is going to reach the current debt limit of 14.3 trillion U.S. dollars no later than May 16, 2011. A failure to raise the debt limit would bring “severe hardship” for Americans -- Geithner said.
• The White House has ordered top officials at multiple federal agencies to ensure contingency plans are ready for the partial federal shutdown that could take place if lawmakers don't reach a deal on spending levels by midnight Friday.
  
  
• YoY Commercial activities in Brazil rose 8.5 % in Q1
  

  
  
• Chile's economy is expected to grow between 5.5% and 6.5% in 2011, Central Bank President Jose de Gregorio said.
• US corn futures extend gains on supply concerns."Somebody's going to have to give up their usage if we're going to see a supply left here at the end of the summer," says Keith Gehling, marketing specialist at AgriSource  
• Arlan Suderman: The US Grains Council just concluded a tour of China that revealed a greater than expected need for corn. It says that China's corn stocks are probably 390 to 472 million bushels smaller than previously reported. As a result, it believes that China will import another 80 to 120 million bushels of corn ahead of this year's harvest. Sources within China told the Council that they would like to import 200 to 275 million bushels, but realizes that global stocks are simply too tight.
• Global ocean container traffic reached an all-time high of 560 million 20-foot equivalent units in 2010, driven by surging volume at Chinese ports, according to Alphaliner.