Quick Overview

• The U.S. trade shortfall rose 10.4 % to $63.9 billion in March.
  

• The Fed’s holdings of Treasury and agency debt kept for overseas central banks rose $8.167 billion in the week ended May 9, to stand at $1.937 trillion.
  

• The European Central Bank met and kept its interest rate unchanged at 3.75%.
  

• New Zealand’s unemployment rate rose from 3.7% to 3.8%.
  

• The Bank of England raised its base rate by 0.25%.

• Australia's unemployment rate fell from 4.5% to 4.4% in April.
  

Quick Overview

• The Federal Reserve kept the federal funds rate unchanged at 5.25%, as expected.
  
  

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson said he feared that support for keeping U.S. markets open to foreign investment was breaking down.
  

• Japan's leading indicators out at 40% in March, a sign of slower growth ahead.
  

• Consumer confidence in the U.K. rose from 88 to 90 in April.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were up 5.6 million barrels last week to 341.2 million barrels.
  Supplies of gasoline were up 400,000 barrels
  Supplies of heating oil were down 500,000 barrels
  Gasoline demand was up 1.0% YoY
  Distillate demand was up 5.2% YoY.

American dream sours as housing market collapses
Home owners' losses will total an estimated $164 billion (£82 billion), according to the Centre for Responsible Lending, an independent research group.

Quick Overview

• U.S. wholesale sales were up 1.8% in March while inventories were up 0.3%. YoY wholesale sales were up 8.4%.
  

• Australian Retail sales were up 1.1% MoM.
  

• Housing starts in Canada were down 1% MoM.

Quick Overview

• The Federal Reserve's reported that consumer credit increased at a rapid annual rate of 6.7 percent in March. This is up from February's 2.8 percent growth rate and is the biggest increase since November.
  

• German factory orders were up 2.4% in March and up 9.9% YoY.
  

Regulators Warn Against Currency Trades
The regulators said trading in foreign currencies, especially outside of big exchanges such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, is "at best extremely risky, and at worst, plagued by outright fraud."

Bush Approval at New Low, Matches Carter, Poll Says The poll also found that 71 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the U.S.

Only Mike Gravel and Ron Paul Get It Both for Republicans and Democrats fence-straddling on the war, let alone calls to "stay the course" are being seen as increasingly dangerous or fatal options.

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• U.S. Unemployment rate rose from 4.4% to 4.5% in April with a gain of 88,000 jobs, the weakest monthly increase in more than two years. Nonfarm payrolls in February were revised up 23,000 while March's figures were reduced by 3,000.
  
  

• Australia reduced its 2007 estimate of core inflation from 2.75% to 2.50%.
  
  

• Brazil's Stock Market broke 50,000 for the first time.
  
  
  

• Brazil expects to produce 5.34 billion gallons of ethanol (from sugar)in 2007, the most ever and up 13% YoY.

• Brazil expects sugar production at 31.3 million tons in 2007-2008, up 5% YoY.
  
  

• Kansas Wheat Quality Tour found surprisingly big crops, saying the wheat in western Kansas should more than make up for the yield losses from freeze-damaged wheat in traditionally high-yielding parts of the state. But how much damaged wheat will be harvested remains a wild card.
  
  

• Crude palm oil's bull run is likely to continue for at least another decade, analysts predicted at an international vegetable oil conference.

Quick Overview

• U.S. jobless claims were down 21,000 last week to 305,000, the lowest level in three months.
  

• The Institute of Supply Management's index of U.S. services increased from 52.4 to 56.0 in April, stronger than expected.
  

• The Fed holdings of Treasury and agency debt for overseas central banks rose $772 million in the week ended May 2, to stand at $1.929 trillion.

US proposes global ban on fishing aid
A US proposal for a global ban on billions of dollars in subsidies that drive overfishing of the oceans has won widespread support from World Trade Organisation members and raised hopes for an international pact later this year.

Quick Overview

• U.S. factory orders were up 3.1% in March and more expected.
  

• The unemployment rate in the Euro area fell from 7.3% to 7.2%.
  

• The Reserve Bank of Australia kept rates unchanged at 6.25%.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were up 1.1 million barrels to 335.6 million barrels.
  Supplies of gasoline were down 1.1 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil supplies were down 900,000 barrels.
  Gasoline demand was up 1.6% YoY
  Distillate demand was up 5.4% YoY.

Quick Overview

• The US manufacturing grew more strongly than expected. The Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index rose to 54.7 in April from March's 50.9.
  

• The National Association of Realtors said pending U.S. home sales fell 4.9% in March, more than expected.
  

• Manufacturing in the U.K. fell from 54.2 to 53.9 in April.
  
  

• A new ETF replicating the DAX Global Russia Index started trading. The index is made up of 30 publicly traded companies domiciled in Russia. Symbol RSX.
  

Quick Overview

• U.S. Personal incomes rose 0.7% in March and consumer spending was up 0.3% -- less than expected.
  

• The core personal consumption expenditure price index rose 2.1% YoY.
  

• The Chicago purchasing managers' index fell from 61.7 to 52.9 in April, weaker than expected.
  

• U.S. Construction spending was at an annual rate of $1.1878 billion in March, up slightly from February's pace. YoY construction spending is down 2.4%.
  

• Canada's real GDP was up 0.4% in February and up 2.1% YoY, more than expected.
  

• YoY consumer prices in the Euro area rose 1.8% in April.
  

• Germany's retail sales fell 0.7% in March, more than expected.
  

• China raised the reserve requirement from 10.5% to 11.0%.
  

• Zuericher Kantonalbank, will launch ETFs for platinum, palladium and silver on May 10.
  

• Mineworkers in Peru went on strike demanding higher pay. (Copper)
  
  

China Shipbuilders, Rivaling U.S. in WWII, to Cut Freight Costs
April 30 (Bloomberg) -- The cost of shipping coal and iron- ore is about to decline as the supply of cargo vessels overwhelms demand.
Japan, China and South Korea will produce so many vessels that shipping costs, now at an all-time high, will fall 40 percent by 2010, according to futures contracts traded privately between banks, transportation companies and hedge funds.

Quick Overview

• U.S. GDP rose 1.3% in the first quarter, weaker than expected due to the slow housing sector. YoY real U.S. GDP rose 2.8%. The GDP price deflator rose 4.0% YoY.
  

• The U.S. employment cost index was up 0.8% in the first quarter and up 3.5% YoY.
  

• There is the potential for a downturn in the U.S. economy that could have ripple effects around the world, San Francisco Federal Reserve President Janet Yellen said.
  

• YoY Japans consumer prices fell 0.1%.
  YoY Japans retail sales were down 0.7% while household spending was up 0.1%.
  Japans industrial production fell 0.6% in March
  Japans unemployment rate remained at 4.0%.
  The Bank of Japan left interest rate unchanged at 0.50%,
  

• Mexico increased its overnight interest rate from 7.00% to 7.25%.
  
  

S&P/Case-Shiller: Home Price Declines Show No Signs of Abating
The S&P/Case-Shiller Index, which is one of the best gauges of the housing market out there, hasn’t recorded monthly declines on this level in almost 15 years. Robert Shiller, who’s Chief Economist at MacroMarkets LLC, and one of the leading authorities on real estate in the country, said that month-to-month declines are also persisting, with 17 out of the 20 cities down from their levels in January. If the chart below was a roller coaster, riders would now be holding on for dear life.

Quick Overview

• U.S. Jobless claims were down 20,000 last week to 321,000, the lowest in a month.
  

• The U.S. DOE said that underground supplies of natural gas were up 18 billion cubic at 1.564 trillion cubic feet.
  
  
  

• The International Grain Council estimates world wheat production for the 2007/2008 season at 623 million tonnes, down 1 million from last month because of freeze damage in the US. World ending stocks are anticipated to rise to 117 million tonnes which would be up 2 million from this year but still down from 134 million tonnes last year.
  
  

• The yen traded near a record low against the Euro before a Japanese government report forecast to show consumer prices fell in March for a second straight month.

Are GM Crops Killing Bees?

..But that could soon change. Since last November, the US has seen a decline in bee populations so dramatic that it eclipses all previous incidences of mass mortality. Beekeepers on the east coast of the United States complain that they have lost more than 70 percent of their stock since late last year, while the west coast has seen a decline of up to 60 percent.

Studies show it's a gold mine at the top
..If you didn't make at least $240 million last year, you didn't make the list.

Quick Overview

• U.S. durable goods orders rose 3.4% in March.
  

• U.S. new home sales were at an annual rate of 858,000 in March up 2.6% MoM, but weaker than expected. For 2007, new home sales are down 23% YoY.
  

• GDP in South Korea rose 4% YoY.
  

• GDP in the U.K. was up 0.7% QoQ. YoY GDP was up 2.8%.
  
  
  

• The U.S. DOE said that:
  Supplies of crude oil rose 2.1 million barrels to 334.5 million barrels.
  Supplies of gasoline were down 2.8 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil were down 2.6 million barrels.
  U.S. refinery capacity was at 87.8%, down from 90.4% the previous week.
  
  

• The International Copper Study Group estimates world copper production exceeded consumption by 40,000 tons in January. World mine production was up 9% YoY, total usage was up 6% YoY.
  

• There is concern about dry weather in Australia, China, and Eastern Europe – July wheat closed at a new contract high.