Home Prices Jump 17% in Southland

The median home price in the six-county region rose 17% to $476,000 last month compared with the year-earlier period, after year-over-year increases of 16.7% in July and 15% in June, according to DataQuick Information

Quick Overview

• Retail sales fell 2.1% in August from the previous month, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday--the biggest drop in four years.
  

• Production at U.S. factories, mines and utilities rose a less-than-expected 0.1% in August, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.
  

• The Mortgage Bankers Association said its index of total mortgage applications for home purchase and refinancing loans fell 1.4 percent to 760.6 in the week ended September 9. The index rose 6.8 percent in the previous week
  
  

• The U.S. DoE said that:
  Crude Oil supplies were down 6.6 million barrels last week to 308.4 million barrels.
  Unleaded gasoline supplies were up 1.9 million barrels
  Heating oil supplies were up 400,000 barrels.
  The DOE also said that the nation's refineries were operating at 87.3% of capacity, up from 86.8% the week before.
  
  

• Repairing roads and bridges damaged by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast states could cost as much as $5 billion, Department of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said Tuesday after touring the region, Bloomberg reported.
  

• Reuters news reported that the Port of New Orleans is gradually returning to business after being closed for two weeks. They said that two of the port's 27 terminals were in service and operations are expected to slowly resume.
  

• Argentine stocks closed at a record high on Wednesday, led by a rise in banking shares on speculation of a possible share buyback for BBVA Banco Frances by its Spanish parent, traders said
  

• The Bank of Japan is "very close" to ending its ultra-loose monetary policy, its deputy governor said yesterday, although he stressed that current policy would be maintained until deflationary expectations were eradicated.
  

• Unemployment in the U.K remained at 4.7%.
  

• Canada's manufacturing shipments were down 1.4% in July to C$50.1 billion.
  

• YoY China's industrial production was up 16%.
  

Economic lunacy

According to a couple of poorly trained economists, there's a bright side to Hurricane Katrina's destruction...

There Are No Commies in China
Fred just finished the last bag-drag back from China...

Quick Overview

• U.S. consumer confidence in the economy fell to its lowest level since June 2004, driven down by the concerns over high gasoline prices and Hurricane Katrina's destruction along the Gulf Coast, ABC News and the Washington Post said on Tuesday.
  
  

• U.S. producer prices were up 0.6% in August and up 5.1% YoY. Excluding food and energy costs, prices were unchanged for the month.
  

• U.S. exports increased somewhat in July to $106.2 billion while imports fell a little to $164.2 billion.
  
  

• Hurricane Katrina's aftermath will have an isolated effect on the hiring prospects of U.S. employers, with nearly a third expecting to add to their payrolls in the fourth quarter, according to a survey by Manpower Inc., the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
  
  

• The federal government is beginning what some planners are calling one of the biggest bursts of federal housing development in U.S. history, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
  

• The U.S. government is considering temporarily reducing the tariff on Canadian lumber to make more building supplies available after Hurricane Katrina.
  
  
  

• The USDA's good to excellent crop rating for:
  Corn was 51%, unchanged from a week ago.
  Soybeans were 54%, unchanged from a week ago.
  Cotton was 65%, up from 64% a week ago.
  

• YoY Consumer prices in the U.K. were up 2.4% in August -- the most in eight years.
  

• Canadian exports totaled C$38.0 billion in July, up 2.1% on the month. Imports totaled C$32.2 billion, down 0.5% in July.
  

• YoY Retail sales in China were up 12.5% in August.

• The cost of shipping commodities such as iron ore, coal and crude oil is poised to rise through the rest of this year as Chinese steel mills and refineries increase imports, according to shipbroker Lorentzen & Stemoco said, Bloomberg reports .
  

A Monopoly on Life
Gandhi: “The individual has a soul, but the State is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from the violence to which it owes its very existence.”

China tops world with 80% foreign trade dependence:
China's foreign trade dependence has reached 80 percent, which is considerably higher than that of other developed and developing countries. China has become the country with the highest foreign trade dependence in the world.

Container throughput at Shanghai Port sets new high
The container throughput of the Shanghai Port increased by 27 percent year-on-year

Inflation fears send gold price to record levels

Recent figures have also revealed gold demand rose 14 per cent worldwide in the second quarter..

Pentagon Revises Nuclear Strike Plan
The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

Cover-up: toxic waters 'will make New Orleans unsafe for a decade'

The pollution was far worse than had been admitted, he said, because his agency was failing to take enough samples and was refusing to make public the results of those it had analysed. "Inept political hacks" running the clean-up will imperil the health of low-income migrant workers by getting them to do the work.

Quick Overview

• Manufacturers are gearing up to supply everything from construction materials to home appliances in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday
  
  

• Hurricane Katrina will not do lasting harm to U.S. growth and the impact on monetary policy is unclear, a top Fed policymaker said on Monday, in remarks that reinforce expectations for a rate hike next week.
  

• The U.S. Minerals Management Services update showed that 57% of oil production and 38% of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico remain closed.
  
  
  

• The USDA's 2005-2006 U.S. crop estimate for:
  Corn was increased from 10.350 to 10.639 billion bushels.
  Soybeans were increased from 2.791 to 2.856 billion bushels.
  Wheat remained at 2.167 billion bushels.
  Sugar was lowered from 7.991 to 7.964 million tons.
  Cotton was increased from 21.29 to 22.28 million bales.
  
  

• The USDA's 2005-2006 U.S. ending stocks estimate for:
  Corn was increased from 1.900 to 2.079 billion bushels.
  Soybeans were increased from 180 to 205 million bushels.
  Wheat was lowered from 634 to 624 million bushels.
  Sugar was increased from .785 to 1.014 million tons.
  Cotton remained at 7.0 million bales.
  

• The USDA's good to excellent crop rating for:
  Corn was 51%, unchanged from a week ago.
  Soybeans were 54%, unchanged from a week ago.
  Cotton was 65%, up from 64% a week ago.
  
  

• The International Monetary Fund urged Beijing to introduce more flexibility for its yuan currency to help protect the Chinese economy and help correct global trade imbalances.
  

• Japan's GDP was up 0.8% in the second quarter, stronger than expected. For the first half of 2005, the GDP was up an annual rate of 4.6%.
  

Oil prices eating away at high-flying Chinese economy

Deutsche Bank said China is about five times as energy-intensive as the U.S. which means its takes five times as much energy to produce a dollar of GDP.

Chart of the day

Long term T-Bond Rate minus Discount Rate

Katrina's Costs Could Approach That of War
..costs are certain to climb to $200 billion in the coming weeks. The final accounting could approach the more than $300 billion spent in four years to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Barbara Bush: It's Good Enough for the Poor

Like mother, like son.
Even when a hurricane hits, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

God Outdoes Terrorists Yet Again
As always, painfully funny truth from The Onion.

Indians just can't stop buying gold
The stats are mind-boggling. Compared to the first six months of ’04, India’s gold purchases are up by more than half, says leading independent precious metals consultancy, GFMS. Jewellery purchases in tonnage was up by more than 40%.

Quick Overview

• Petroleum costs pushed the cost of goods imported into the United States up by 1.3% in August, the Labor Department reported Friday. But other import prices remained subdued.
  
  

• Canada's unemployment rate in August was unchanged at 6.8%.
  

• France's industrial production was down 0.9% in July.
  

• The U.S. Minerals Management Service announced that 60% of oil production and 38% of natural gas production in the gulf remains closed.
  

• YoY South Africa's gold mining production was down 12% in July.

The Bush administration can indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen it determines to be an enemy combatant in the war on terrorism, a federal appeals court ruled.