Longevity crisis? Kill Grandma A welfare state designed in the era of bacon, eggs and Lucky Strikes cannot expect to survive in an age of "active seniors" who wash down their Viagra with soy milk and think a six-pack is something you get at the gym.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Commerce Department said that wholesale sales increased 1.5% in April, the biggest jump in over a year. Meanwhile, inventories increased 0.8%. The inventory-to-sales ratio fell to 1.18 from 1.19. The record low was 1.14 in April
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that crude oil supplies were down 3.0 million barrels to 330.8 million barrels. Unleaded supplies were down 100,000 barrels and heating oil supplies were unchanged.
  
  

• There is some concern about the spread of Asian citrus canker in Florida.

• Engine and heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. said Wednesday it would split its stock 2-for-1 and boost its quarterly dividend by 9 cents, following record sales last year.
  

• Canada's housing starts were at an annual rate of 218,800 units in May, down 5.0 %
  

• The Netherlands central bank cut its 2005 growth forecast from 1.7% to 0.4%.
  

• Average retail diesel prices are expected to remain above regular gasoline prices through 2006, the Department of Energy said in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook released Tuesday
  

• Peru's government on Wednesday lauded two new oil discoveries, saying the finds should boost optimism about finding more hydrocarbons to replace the Andean nation's dwindling oil supplies. Petro-Tech, the Peruvian unit of Houston-based Petro-Tech International, said its new well is producing 1,200 barrels of oil a day and its potential reserves could vary between 10 million and 50 million barrels of oil.
  
  
  

John Conyers, Jr. -- Letter to Pres Bush Concerning the "Downing Street Minutes"
The peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: "Our country -- when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right."
Carl Schurz

Quick Overview

• Germany's industrial production was up 1.1% in April.
  
  

• Household spending in Japan was down 3% in April from a year ago.
  

• Crop outlook sours Australia is the world's second-largest exporter of wheat, but it has already been suggested that the country might have to import wheat from its international competitors to meet demand this year.
  

• Total air cargo shipments rose 0.3% in April compared with a year earlier, following a 3.1% year-over-year drop in March, the Air Transport Association reported.

• GM announced today that it's cutting 25,000 US jobs, 17% of the work force, and closing an unspecified number of plants over the next 3 1/2 years.

Quick Overview

• U.S. Corn and soybeans are entering a critical part of the growing season, when the crops must become established. Most of Illinois received less than 40% of normal precipitation during the March-to-May period, causing moisture supplies to slowly vanish
  

• Factory orders in Germany were down 2.9% in April, weaker than expected.
  

• Year over Year Capital spending in Japan increased an impressive 7.4% in the first quarter.
  

• A Holstein cow in northern Japan has been confirmed as Japan's 20th case of mad cow disease.

• The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved its portion of energy legislation that would increase the use of biofuels such as biodiesel and ethanol.

• Australia, the world's second-biggest wheat exporter, cut its production forecast for the grain by 29 percent because of a drought in the country's southeast.

• Thailand’s economy shrank for the first time in four years in the first quarter of this year, as a drought parched crops and tourists stayed away after the Boxing Day tsunami.

Australian farmers battle drought, no end in sight
Eastern Australia is into the third month of the worst drought farmers can remember -- more severe than the 2002 drought which the weather bureau classes the worst in a century.

Investor confidence shattered as China stock market goes from bad to worse
"The market has been falling for years and investors are numb," said Zhang Qi, analyst from Haitong Securities.

Quick Overview

• Hiring in the United States slowed in May to the weakest in nearly two years, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 78,000 and the unemployment rate declined to 5.1% from 5.2%.
  

• The ISM's index of U.S. services fell from 61.7 to 58.5 in May, lower than expected, but still a sign of growth.

• An index of service activity in the U.K. dropped from 56.5 to 55.1 in May, still a sign of growth.
  

• Retail sales in the Euro zone were down 1.2% in April and down 0.9 YoY.
  

• ED&F Man expects the 2004-2005 world cocoa crop to fall short of consumption by 175,000 tons. The International Cocoa Organization recently estimated a 44,000 ton production deficit.

Forecast of deficient Indian monsoon? Lower Soybean, Sugar and Cotton Ccrops? In June, rainfall is likely to be 11 per cent below normal in north India, 22 per cent below normal in west India, 6 per cent below normal in south India, 60 per cent below normal in central India and 40 per cent below normal in south-central India.

History Matters Butler Shaffer on the decline of centralized power structures and the French and Dutch "NO" votes.

Quick Overview

• Orders placed with factories rose 0.9% in April, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
  

• U.S. jobless claims were up 25,000 last week to 350,000.
  

• The Department of Labor said that U.S. productivity increased at an annual rate of 2.9% in the first quarter of 2005. Labor costs increased at an annual rate of 3.3%.
  

• The DoE said that crude oil supplies were up 1.4 million barrels last week to 333.8 million barrels. Unleaded supplies were up 1.3 million barrels and distillates were up 700,000 barrels. Refinery utilization jumped from 94.6% to 96.2% of capacity last week.
  The DOE also said that natural gas supplies were up 86 billion cubic feet last week to 1.778 trillion cubic feet. Current supplies are up 15% from a year ago.
  
  

• The World Gold Council said that world gold demand totaled 977 tons in the first quarter of 2005, up 26% YoY. YoY, Jewelry demand was up 19%.

• Playmate of the Month,
  Jamie Westenhiser, says she is abandoning a promising career as a model in order to "take up real estate investing." ( bells ringing?)
  

Destroying Companies and Countries

The American public was so whipped up in a frenzy over Enron that it didn’t care whose blood was spilled. Just as someone had to pay for September 11 – even if it is our own troops and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis who had no more to do with September 11 than the US troops who are losing their lives and limbs – someone had to pay for Enron.

Quick Overview

• The ISM index of U.S. manufacturing activity dropped from 53.3 to 51.4 in May.
  

• U.S. construction spending was at a record high annual rate of $1.07 trillion in April, up 0.5% on the month and up 8.2% YoY.
  

• The purchasing managers index for the eurozone, fell from 49.2 in April to a 22-month low of 48.7 in May. A figure below 50 represents contraction.

• Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Fisher implied that the fed may be close to the end of raising the federal funds rate. On the news the DowJones Industrial Average jumped 82.39 points, or 0.79%, to 10549.87. it's highest finish in 2 1/2 months. The same news pushed Treasury-bond prices higher and yields lower, leaving the yield of the 10-year Treasury note at 3.894%, its lowest level in14 months.

• Growth in the world’s tanker fleets is outstripping demand, forcing charter rates down to new lows and putting pressure on shipping company share prices – Lloyd's List reports.
  

• Copper inventories fell 900 tons to 44,325 tons.
  
  

• Australia's GDP increased 0.7% in the first quarter of 2005, less than expected.
  
  
  

Quick Overview

• An index of Chicago-area business declined 65.6 to 54.1 in May for a second straight month, the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago reported Tuesday.
  

• The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence increased from 97.5 to 102.2 in May.
  

• Germany's unemployment rate dropped from 12% to 11.6% in May.
  

• The International Cocoa Organization said that the net world cocoa crop will total 3.18 million tons in 2004-2005, down from 3.46 million tons in the previous year. Ending stocks are expected to drop from 1.44 to 1.40 million tons.
  
  

• Japan's unemployment rate fell from 4.5% to 4.4% in April, the lowest in over six years. Industrial production in Japan was up 2.2% in April, roughly as expected.
  

• Canada's GDP was up 0.6% in the first quarter of 2005 and up 1.6% from a year ago, slightly less than expected.

Quick Overview

• U.S. personal income was up 0 .7% in April.
  
  

• The University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment index for May fell to 86.9, the fourth straight drop and the lowest level since September 2003, though it rose from a preliminary reading two weeks ago.
  
  

• Personal spending rose for a third consecutive month in April, rising 0.6%, the Commerce Department said Friday.
  

• YoY Hong Kong's GDP increased 6% in the first quarter.
  

• Japan's retail sales were up 3.9% in April.
  
  

LME bets on future in plastics
The London Metal Exchange, a bastion of tradition in the financial world, is breaking from its roots in the base metals industry on Friday by launching two plastics futures contracts, the first non-metallic futures contract launched by the 128-year-old exchange.

The Short View: Has China hit the brakes? But imports are another matter. Morgan Stanley points out that growth has slowed to 13.5 per cent in the first four months of the year, down from 36 per cent in 2004. This slackening of pace may explain the developments in the commodity markets. The Baltic Dry Freight index, a measure of shipping activity, has plunged from a high of 6,208 in December to 3,366.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5% in the first quarter, faster than a previous 3.1% estimate in late April, the Commerce Department said Thursday. YoY, GDP was up 3.7%.
  
  
  
• U.S. jobless claims were up 1,000 to 323,000 in the week ended May 21, the Labor Department said Thursday
  
  

• The core rate of personal consumption expenditures, was up an annual rate of 2.2% in the first quarter.
  

• The Commerce Department said that early, YoY estimate of corporate profits from current production were up 14% in the first quarter.
  

• London inventories of Copper declined 2,825 tons to 46,400 tons.
  
  

• The U.S. Census Bureau said that 139.4 million bushels of soybeans were crushed in April,
  
  

• The USDA's drought monitor shows an increasing area of unusually dry conditions from Michigan down to Louisiana.
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that natural gas supplies were at 1.692 trillion cubic feet - up 93 billion cubic feet.
  

• U.S. domestic cotton mill usage declined to an annual rate of 6.17 to 6.14 million bales in April.
  

• The USDA estimates 2005-2006 world sugar production at 146.3 million tons, up from the previous years 142.1 million tons. The 2005-2006 world ending stocks are expected to decrease from 35.8 to 34.2 million tons - or 23% of usage.
  
  

• YoY New York Customs District saw overall air-cargo tonnage increase 1.67 percent in March.
  

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Commerce Department said that durable goods orders rose 1.9% in April, stronger than expected and the first gain in 05. Excluding transportation, orders were down 0.2% on the month.
  

• median sales price of a new home rose 3.8% YoY to $230,800.
  U.S. new home sales were at an annual rate of 1.316 million units in April, up 0.2% from March's pace and a new record high. So far in 2005, new home sales are up 6% from a year ago. The

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that crude supplies were down 1.6 million barrels last week to 332.4 million barrels. Unleaded supplies were up 600,000 barrels and heating oil supplies were up 1.6 million barrels.
  

• China can and should move quickly toward a more flexible currency to help rebalance world trade, Federal Reserve Governor Ben Bernanke said. And a Chinese trade official on Wednesday commented that a move to allow the country's currency to trade more flexibly would eventually involve attaching the yuan to a basket of currencies
  

• Goldman Sachs reiterated buy ratings on Internet heavyweights eBay Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. on Wednesday, saying the online industry this year will see a jump in advertising as broadband access continues to spread.
  

• The U.K.'s National Statistics office reduced the estimate of first quarter growth from 0.6% to 0.5%. YoY GDP was up 2.7%.
  

• An index of German business confidence from the Ifo Institute dropped from 93.3 to 92.9 in May, the lowest in two years.
  

• YoY Japan's exports were up 7.8% in April, while imports were up 12.7%.
  

• Malaysia's GDP was up an annual rate of 5.7% in the first quarter, more than expected.
  

• A USDA official estimated Vietnam's 2005-2006 coffee crop at 12.2 million bags, down 1.8 million bags from the previous year.
  
  
  

Quick Overview

• Global investorconfidence slumped for the second month in a row in May to its lowest level since October 1998

• Sales of existing U.S. homes rose 4.5% in April to a record seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.18 million, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.
  

• The USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service released its estimates yesterday of Brazil's coffee crop. They anticipate a harvest of 36.5 million bags of coffee in 2005-2006, down from 42.4 million bags the previous year. The 2005-2006 Arabica crop is estimated at 26.0 million bags, down from 33.4 million bags in 2004-2005. Brazil's ending stocks are expected to fall from 10.44 to 4.81 million bags in 2005-2006.
  

• Canada's composite index of leading indicators was up 0.4% in April at 203.6.
  

• The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reduced its 2005 growth forecast for the Euro zone from 1.9% to 1.2%.

• The volume of cargo passing through China's ports every year is expected to rise by more than 50 percent in the next five years.
  

• An index of services in Japan was down 1% in March, weaker than expected.
  

Quick Overview

• China's gross domestic product expanded 9.4 percent in the first quarter of 2005 from a year earlier, revised down from an initial estimate of 9.5 percent.
  

• Chinese government statistics released Monday showed the combined profits of China's industrial firms rose 15.6% on year in the first four months of 2005, down 30.1 percentage points from growth in the same period last year.
  
  

• Stock funds pull in $18 billion in April – Lipper .. much of the money continued to stream to international funds as investors found better returns abroad..
  
  
  

• The Chinese government has sent 3 million doses of avian flu vaccine to protect farm birds in the western province of Qinghai.
  
  

Dollar Climbs Versus Euro as France's Voters May Reject EU Constitution

The dollar rose to a seven-month high against the euro after an opinion poll showed French voters will reject the European Union constitution and France's economy barely grew in the first quarter.

Out of the doghouse?
And then Murphy's Law struck again. Almost at the very point that many of the latter-day converts to the strategy threw in the towel, the strategy started working again

'Conundrum' revisited: cheap borrowing persists

Three months after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan described peculiarly low long-term U.S. borrowing costs as a "conundrum," 10-year rates are now even lower and there is little more clarity as to why.

Quick Overview

• America's bloated trade deficits probably wouldn't be helped by China revamping its currency system as the Bush administration has been pressing Beijing to do, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Friday. He also said that it was difficult to know when the economy was balanced and the federal funds rate had reached a neutral level.
  

• South Korea's GDP was up 0.4% in the first quarter.
  
  

• Argentina's President Nestor Kirchner on Friday said the unemployment rate climbed to 12.3 percent in March from 12.1 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.
  
  

• China said that on June 1st they will be raising export tariffs on 74 categories of textiles.
  
  

• Vietnam reported its 53rd death from the deadly bird flu virus.
  

• The USDA said that there were 10.639 million head of cattle on feed as of May 1st, up 2.5% from a year ago. April placements were up 4% from a year ago and marketing’s were down 5%. The report is called neutral to bearish
  

• The USDA said that there were 89.5 million pounds of frozen bellies in storage on April 30th, up 85% YoY. Frozen pork totaled 563.5 million pounds, up 26% YoY.
  

• The USDA said that, as of April 30th, there were 1.66 billion pounds of frozen orange juice in U.S. cold storage, down 16% YoY.
  

• YoY Consumer prices in Canada were up 2.4% in April, while the core rate was up 1.7%.
  

• France's GDP was up 0.2% in the first quarter.
  

• There is a concern about the weather and the newly-planted corn crop.

Quick Overview

• Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 20,000 to 321,000 in the latest week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
  

• The index of leading indicators show a definite loss of forward momentum by falling 0.2% in April after a downwardly revised 0.6% drop in March from 0.4% previously,
  

• Mexico leading economic indicator edged 0.3 percent higher in March.
  
  

• Taiwan's economy grew an unexpectedly weak 2.5 percent YoY.

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that natural gas supplies were up 90 billion cubic feet to 1.599 trillion cubic feet. Supplies are now up 16% from a year ago.
  

• This week's USDA Drought Monitor is showing relatively new occurrence of abnormally dry conditions in Michigan, Illinois, Oklahoma, and the Mississippi delta .
  

• Consumer prices in the Euro zone were up 2.1% in April from a year ago, the same as in March. Also, industrial production was down .2% in March.

• The International Monetary Fund's forecast of global economic growth this year is unchanged at 4.3 percent although the U.S. current account deficit is still weighing on the world economy.
  
  
  

• UK Retail sales jumped by 0.5% much better than the 0.0% expected.
  
  

• Japan's economy is recovering at a moderate pace, the government said on Thursday, keeping its assessment unchanged.
  
  

• The Philly Fed index fell to 7.3 from 25.3 in April, the lowest since June 2003. It was the largest one-month decline since January 2001.

• Brazil: Amazon destruction accelerating -
  26,000 sq km of forest were chopped down in the last 12 months .
  
  
  
  
  

• The Bush administration is imposing new limits on the amount of clothing that can be imported from China. Everybody is espousing free trade, but there shouldn't be double standards," Mr. Bo said to a meeting of international business leaders. "When you have an absolute advantage, you advocate free trade and make everyone open the door, but when developing countries begin to challenge you, you immediately set limits and shut the door
  

• Greenspan, told an Atlanta housing conference that Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) had gotten too big for their britches, "We are highly dependent on the risk managers at Fannie and Freddie to do everything right," he said.
  

Multi-Tasking

Almost Unnoticed, Bipartisan Budget Anxiety




"The only thing the United States is able to do a little after 2040 is pay interest on massive and growing federal debt," Walker said. "The model blows up in the mid-2040s. What does that mean? Argentina."

Quick Overview

• The consumer price index increased 0.5% in April, due to a 4.5% increase in energy prices. Food prices jumped 0.7%. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy costs, was unchanged in April, the lowest rate of underlying inflation since November 2003.
  

• Oil prices fell to a three-month low near $47 a barrel on Wednesday after the DOE repotted inventories of oil in the United States rose 4.3 million barrels last week to 334 million barrels, the 13th increase in the last 14 weeks - and the highest level in six years. Unleaded gasoline supplies were up 1.1 million barrels and heating oil supplies were up 200,000 barrels.

• The unemployment rate in the U.K. remained steady at 4.7% last quarter.
  
  
  
• China rejected U.S. pressure for quick action toward revaluing its currency and criticized U.S. and European curbs on surging textile imports as unfair.
  
  
• U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has hit a roadblock as he stumps for the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Idaho sugar beet farmers are opposing the pact, known as CAFTA, because of provisions allowing 107,000 metric tons of sugar to be imported into the U.S.
  
  
  

• Wholesale sales in Canada were up 0.5% in March to C$39.1 billion.
  
  

• Retail sales in Australia were up 1.2% in the first quarter, stronger than expected.
  
  
  
• Hong Kong caps value of its currency but government denies that the move signaled China would soon revalue its currency.
  
  

Quick Overview

• U.S. wholesale prices increased 0.6% in April. The YoY gain in the PPI slowed to 4.8% in April from 4.9% in March. Core prices were up 2.6% YoY, unchanged from March.
  

• Industrial production fell 0.2% in April. Capacity utilization eased to 79.2% from 79.4%.
  

• Construction of new U.S. houses rose 11% in April to a seasonally adjusted 2.04 million annualized units.
  
  
• Japan's economy grew at its fastest pace in a year in the first quarter of 2005, more than double the rate expected as robust private consumption and corporate investment more than made up for weak export growth.
  
  
• Lease rates are lower due to a large surplus of new containers that has built up in China over the past few weeks as factories over-reacted to last year’s shortages.
  
  
• U.S. manufacturing output growth will slow to a 3.5 percent pace this year from 5.1 percent in 2004 as both business and household investment weaken, the Manufacturing Institute said on Tuesday.

• Researchers at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory have learned to produce 10-carat, half-inch thick single-crystal diamonds at rapid growth rates (100 micrometers per hour) .

• The average price of retail diesel fuel fell for a third straight week, dropping 3.8 cents to $2.189 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

• YoY Consumer prices in the U.K. were up 1.9% , under the 2.0% target rate.