Sorry about the delay in updating this weekend. It took a bit longer than I had expected to hike up Mt. San Jacinto (10834 ft). Everything should be up-to-date by midnight Sunday San Diego time.

Quick Overview

• Consumer inflation made its biggest jump in 25 years in September after hurricane-related supply disruptions sent energy prices soaring
  

• The University of Michigan's preliminary October index of consumer sentiment fell to 75.4, below the final September reading of 76.9 and below Wall Street's median forecast of an increase to 80.0.
  

• The U.S. government has a $318.6 billion deficit for fiscal 2005
  

• The U.S. Commerce Department said that retail sales were up 0.2% in September, less than expected.
  

• U.S. industrial production was down 1.3% in September, the biggest drop in 23 years, blamed largely on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
  

• The National Oilseed Processors Association said that 127.1 million bushels of soybeans were crushed in September.
  

• Refco Is Shutting Biggest Unit and SEC Bars Withdrawals.

World Temperatures Keep Rising With a Hot 2005
New international climate data show that 2005 is on track to be the hottest year on record, continuing a 25-year trend of rising global temperatures.

Report Says U.S. Reduces Protection of Waters, Wetlands
In the past four years, the United States has drastically cut back on its protection of waterways and wetlands, whose erosion was cited as a factor in the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, according to a report issued Wednesday.

Quick Overview

• The Commerce Department said the August trade gap grew 1.8 percent to $59.0 billion, just below economists' forecasts of $59.5 billion. Record imports of $167.2 billion easily overwhelmed record exports of $108.2 billion.
  

• Import prices rose 2.3 percent after a 1.2 percent gain in August, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The increase excluding oil was the largest since record-keeping started in January 1989 because of increases in natural gas prices.
  

• First-time claims for unemployment benefits fell by 2,000 to 389,000 in the week ending Oct. 8, the Labor Department said Thursday.
  
  
  

• Refco Inc. (RFX) reeling from the disclosure that its chief executive officer hid unpaid debts, barred clients from withdrawing funds saying that one of its units doesn't have enough liquidity to keep doing business.
  
  

• Canada and Mexico are increasing their allegations the U.S. is breaching the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement to protect domestic producers.
  
  

• Italian industrial production in August rose 1.3% -- three times more than forecast by economists.

• GDP in the Euro zone was up 0.3% in the second quarter and up 1.1% YoY.
  
  
• Canada's exports in August were up 1.5%
  
  

• Statistics South Africa said that YoY gold mine production was down 3.9% in June to August.
  
  

• The unemployment rate in Australia increased from 5.0 to 5.1%
  
  
• A Crisis could be threatening for world shipbuilders investment banker Morgan Stanley warned that overcapacity in the industry could be as much as 30% by 2008.

Tax panel seeks cap on break for homeowners
The president's panel on tax reform is pushing for a cap on the mortgage interest tax deduction, long considered one of the country's untouchable tax breaks.

Quick Overview

• The yield curve has been a good predictor of recessions in the United States over many years and probably still is, according to a report issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
  

• Major trade powers are edging closer on farm market reforms, but ministers said Wednesday that plenty of work remains if WTO members are to reach a wide-ranging agreement by the end of the year.
  

• It all depends how cold it gets, but the DOE prognosticates that homes heated primarily by natural gas will have to spend about 48% more to keep warm this winter. Homes heating with heating oil will spend 32% more.
  

• U.S. mortgage applications fell for a third consecutive week last week as interest rates on 30-year home loans climbed to the highest levels since late March, an industry trade group said on Wednesday.
  
  

• Today’s Soybean futures were propelled higher by a smaller-than-expected production forecast from the USDA. The government estimates soybean production at 2.967 billion bushels, higher than the 2.856 billion USDA estimated from September, but lower than the average analyst estimate of 3.006 billion bushels. November soybeans jumped 25 1/2 cents to $5.89.
  
  

• The USDA pegged corn production at 10.857 billion bushels, in line with the average analysts' estimate of 10.862 billion but above the 10.639 billion estimated in September. Ending stocks were projected at 2.220 billion bushels, a 141 million bushel increase from the previous USDA report.
  The USDA projected the 2005-06 corn yield at 146.1 bushels an acre, up from the 143.2 bushels estimated in the prior report.
  
  
  

• Today’s USDA production estimates are:
  Corn was increased from 10.639 to 10.857 billion bushels.
  Soybeans were increased from 2.856 to 2.967 billion bushels.
  Wheat was reduced from 2.167 to 2.098 billion bushels.
  Sugar was reduced from 7.964 to 7.874 million tons.
  Cotton was increased from 22.28 to 22.72 million bales.
  
  

• USDA's 2005-2006 U.S. ending stocks estimates are:
  Corn was increased from 2.079 to 2.220 billion bushels.
  Soybeans were increased from 205 to 260 million bushels.
  Wheat was reduced from 624 to 530 million bushels.
  Cotton was reduced from 7.00 to 6.40 million bales.
  Sugar was increased from 1.014 to 1.089 million tons.
  
  

• The USDA's estimate of the 2005-2006 Florida orange crop is 190 million boxes, lower than expected. The juice yield is at 1.58 gallons a box - 42.0 degrees Brix. Last year Florida produced 150 million boxes of oranges with a yield of 1.58 gallons a box.
  

• The DOE reduced its forecast of 2005 oil demand from 84.2 to 83.7 million barrels a day and upped its estimate of OPEC's oil production in September from 30.1 to 30.4 million barrels a day . The DOE also said that they expect significant recovery of the gulf coast infrastructure by the end of this year
  
  

• The U.K.'s unemployment rate for June to August was steady at 4.7% -- the lowest in thirty years.
  

• Some clients of Refco Inc. are moving business to other firms after the company this week suspended two top executives because of a hidden $430 million debt that it failed to properly account for, market sources said on Wednesday.
  

• Mexico's industrial production probably rose 2.2 percent in August, less than the pace of the nation's economic expansion and evidence that manufacturing is losing its role as the country's main driver of growth – Bloomberg reports.
  

• The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reduced its forecast of 2005 GDP growth for the U.K. from 2.4% to 1.7%.
  

CNNNN discovers Americans support war on Kyrgyzstan, 'wherever it may be'
The difficulties experienced in Iraq have not put Americans off going to war again, CNNNN's Julian Morrow found when he surveyed people on the streets of Texas.

Global Warming Drying Out Source Of China's Mighty Yellow River
Global warming is drying out the source of the Yellow River, threatening water supplies to 120 million people, an environmental group said Monday.

Pessimism over economy lifts in October
Americans were slightly less pessimistic about the U.S. economy and went shopping in October despite worries about higher interest rates and gasoline prices, reports showed on Tuesday.

Consumers feeling bite of soaring cost of living

U.K. Trade Gap Widens to Record on Higher Imports

Quick Overview

• Federal Reserve minutes released today showed members voted 9 to 1 to increase the federal funds rate by a quarter-percent to 3.75% -- giving plenty of hints there will be more hikes to come.
  

• Brazil's stocks and currency rose on Tuesday as Fitch Ratings signaled it may soon upgrade the country's sovereign ratings, boosting even more the allure of high-yielding Brazilian assets.
  

• Machinery orders in Japan were up 8.2% in August -- stronger than expected.
  

• China's National Development and Reform Commission said that they expect China's economy to grow 9.2% this year and 8.5% in 2006
  

• Yesterday’s discovery that Brazil has a problem with foot-and-mouth disease may lead to a likely cut in beef exports.
  

• The European Cocoa Association announced that YoY grindings in the third quarter of 2005 were up 8.6%. For the first three quarters of 2005, Europe's cocoa grinding were up 5.6% YoY

World must hurry to save environment or face global poverty, UN official warns
With some 60 per cent of the planet's ecosystem currently being degraded by human activities, the global community must take speedy action or else face a future of 6 billion people “scratching around trying to survive,” the head of the United Nations environmental agency said today.
“You cannot continue to drive a car if all you do is put petrol in the tank,” he warned. “It needs servicing, parts require replacing and we must pay for the roads and infrastructure on which it runs.

China research spending to outpace EU in five years
In just five years, China will proportionally be spending more on research and development (RD) than the European Union, the Financial Times reported Monday.

Quick Overview

• New offers from the United States and the European Union to cut aid to their farmers could herald a breakthrough in deadlocked global trade talks, just two months before a deadline for a treaty, ministers said Monday
  

• It's still tough to read how badly Katrina and Rita hurt the economy, but data show Americans reacted in their usual way -- by going shopping
  

• The DoE said the number of closed refineries is down to eight, resulting in a daily loss of 900,000 barrels of gasoline.
  

• Brazil's coffee trees are in need of rain this month for the flowering, but the near-term outlook is calling for dry weather. Hurricane Stan may have also damaged some coffee crops in Mexico and Central America last week.
  

• Dow-Jones Newswires said the International Sugar Organization is predicting 2005-2006 world production of 149.6 million tons and consumption of 150.6 million tons.
  

• YoY Singapore's GDP was up 6.0% in the third quarter.
  

• Gold futures in New York settled at a near-18-year high on Monday as fund buying on the back of economic worries and strong investment demand extended the metal's recent rally, traders and analysts said.
  

• French industrial production increased by 0.8 percent from July, when the output had dropped a revised 0.7 percent.
  

Drug Rehab For George
Do you hear little voices speaking to you sometime? I do; well, I mean I used to. Officially speaking, they stopped. Excepting for yesterday, yesterday the little voice in my head said, "Go gambling and play machine number 161." So I did. And wouldn’t you know it? I won. Really! I started with $60 and wound up $840. Darn if that little voice in my head isn’t giving me some great advice… Sometimes.

Ray Kurzweil calls for 1918 flu genome to be 'un-published'
"The decision by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to publish the full genome of the 1918 influenza virus on the Internet in the GenBank database is extremely dangerous and immediate steps should be taken to remove this data," says inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil.

Bird flu fight lifts biotech stocks
Shares of biotechnology companies developing treatments to fight a possible outbreak of avian flu rose on Friday as delegates from around the world met to discuss plans for battling the illness.

Greenspan concerned about interest-free loans and other riskier mortgages
"In the event of widespread cooling in house prices, these borrowers, and the institutions that service them, could be exposed to significant losses," Greenspan said recently.