Next Update May 4

QUICK OVERVIEW

• IMF trimmed world growth forecast to 3.6 % in 2014 

• China's CPI rose 2.4 % YoY in March, up from 2% 

• MoM Germany’s CPI stood at 1.2 percent in February (a three year low), following a rate of 1.3 percent in January and 1.4 percent in December 2013. 

• France's inflation rose 0.4 % in March. 

• U.S. jobless rate unchanged at 6.7% in March 

• The Eurozone unemployment rate was 11.9 % in February, stable since October 2013 
• The Eurozone ‘s inflation is expected to drop to 0.5 % in March from 0.7 % in February, the lowest since November 2009 and further below the European Central Bank's target of just under 2 % 
• (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is ready to make asset purchases if it deems them necessary to counter a too prolonged period of low inflation in the euro zone, ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said. 

• Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said the odds of an El Nino developing in the May-July period now exceed 70%. 

• P&G declares a 7% Dividend Increase. 

• Abic estimates that Brazil's coffee output will fall to 47m bags – dryness continues. Cancel that - 2.7mm could fall in southern Minas Gerais, Brazil's top coffee-growing state. 

• The U.S.D.A. cut its latest estimates for Florida's orange output and yield in a report issued after one of the most brutal winters in decades. Florida's orange output for 2013/14 has been reduced to 110 million boxes (4.95 million tons) down 4% MoM and down 18% YoY. Yield is projected down 1% MoM but up 1% YoY. 

• Europe's cocoa grind rose 0.4% in Q1, well below expectations of a rise of 3%. However, the lower increase was attributed to more processing being done in cocoa producing countries, such as Ivory Coast and Indonesia, rather than to soft European demand. 

• (Reuters) - Nearly 2,000 Chinese enterprises were found to be in violation of state pollution guidelines following a nationwide inspection campaign covering 25,000 industrial firms, the environment ministry said.. 
• Water in China's Lanzhou city found to contain levels of benzene, a cancer-inducing chemical, at 20 times above safety levels. 

• Twenty-five years after making their first bid for membership, the Palestinians can join the Geneva Conventions governing the rules of war and military occupations, the Swiss government said . 

• Pastafarians rejoice as Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is granted permission to register as a religion in Poland.