Quick Overview

• A congressional report released on Thursday said the U.S. budget shortfall will hit $337 billion this year, a figure that is up $23 billion from an August estimate and excludes more funds needed for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
  
  

• U.S. Jobless claims were up 11,000 last week to 283,000.
  

• U.S. Durable goods orders increased 1.3% in December, more than expected. Excluding transport, orders were up 0.9%. For all of 2005, orders totaled a record high $2.51 trillion.
  

• Brazil's unemployment rate fell in December to its lowest level in nearly four years, slipping to 8.3 percent as fewer people actively looked for work during an economically sluggish holiday season, the government said Thursday.
  
  

• YoY Japan's December exports were up 17% and imports were up 27%, because of higher energy prices.
  

• USDA said tariffs charged on the Gulf to Japan trade route have averaged $36.33 a metric ton during the past three months, down from $50.08 a ton one year ago.
  
  

• Silver prices rose to hit a new 19-year high on fund-buying Thursday. Some of the move may be a "catch-up" to gains that previously had been occurring in gold, analysts said, and some buying is market speculation that Barclays Global Investors may win government approval to launch a silver exchange-traded fund.
  

• The DoE said that underground supplies of natural gas were down 81 billion cubic feet to 2.494 trillion cubic feet.
  

India sees record 75.5 million tonnes wheat output
NEW DELHI: India is expected to produce a record wheat output of 75.5 million tonnes this year, well above about 72 million tonnes in 2005, the Food Ministry said on Wednesday, but traders cautioned it was too early to make a call.

Tech leaders press Bush on U.S. competitivenessAfter decades of uncontested global dominance, the United States is now at risk of falling behind emerging powerhouse nations such as China and India, according to C&I believers. If we don't move fast to improve our education system, boost research funding and fix overly restrictive immigration laws, the U.S. will soon lose its place as the world's biggest and most inventive economy.

Environmental Report Rates New Zealand No. 1
The United States ranked below nearly every major country in Western Europe, although it outperformed Russia and several Eastern European nations, including Hungary and Poland

Quick Overview

• U.S. Existing home sales were at an annual rate of 6.6 million units in December, down 5.7% from November's pace. There are 2.8 million homes for sale in the U.S. -- a five month supply.
  

• China's GDP was up 9.9% in 2005 to $2.3 trillion. That puts China in the number five position,
  just behind Britain, Germany, Japan and the United States. .

• YoY Mexico's economy expanded a slower-than-expected 2.7 percent in November.
  
  

• GDP in the U.K. was up 06% in the fourth quarter and up 1.8% for all of 2005.
  

• YoY Consumer prices in Australia were up 2.8%
  

• The Ifo index of business confidence in Germany increased from 99.7 to 102.0 in January
  

• South Korea's GDP was up 4.0% in 2005.
  

• Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it is developing the Ford Escape Hybrid E85, a research vehicle marrying hybrid electric power and ethanol capability
  
  
  

• The Chinese National Bureau of Statistics said that:
  2005 Cotton Output was 5.7 Mln MT, down 9.8% YoY.
  Total grain output in 2005 rose 3.1% to 484 million tons.
  Meat production for the year rose 6.3%.
  2005’s Oilseed and sugar output were unchanged from 2004.
  
  Ag Minister Du Qinlin said that, although grain output has risen in the past two years, production has still failed to meet demand. He says it will be increasingly difficult to boost output due to China's growing population, water shortages, and a decrease in the size of farm lands.
  Du said that China will likely face a shortage of grains next year, as demand is expected to exceed output by 15 million tons, demand for grains are expected to reach 495 million tons in 2006.
  China also said that they imported 1.39 million tons of sugar, up 14% from a year ago.
  
  

• There is speculation that a decision may be nearing on a Barclays silver ETF.
  
  

• Regulators in India will allow mutual funds to launch gold ETF’s.
  
  
  

• The DoE said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were down 2.3 million barrels to 319.1 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 3.2 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil supplies were up 1.6 million barrels.
  
  
  
  
  

White House Was Told Hurricane Posed Danger The White House was told in the hours before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans that the city would probably soon be inundated with floodwater, forcing the long-term relocation of hundreds of thousands of people.....

...."I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," Mr. Bush said in a television interview on Sept. 1. "Now we're having to deal with it, and will."

77% of Google users don't know it records personal data
Google maintains a lifetime cookie that expires in 2038, and records the user's IP address. But more recently it has begun to integrate services which record the user's personal search history, email, shopping habits, and social contacts. After first promising not to tie its email service to its search service, Google went ahead and opted its users in anyway. It's all part of CEO Eric Schmidt's promise to create a "Google that knows more about you."

BoE’s Lomax warns of impact of global imbalances
Of particular concern is the possibility that the “global savings glut” described by incoming Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, may stop being used to purchase US assets. There is evidence that foreign investors, including some Asian central banks have already started cutting pack on such purchases. Net capital flows into the US in fell from $104bn in October to $89.1bn in November, though this was still sufficient to cover that month’s current account deficit of $64.2bn.

Google Agrees to Censor Results in China
Online search engine leader Google Inc. has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech restrictions in return for better access in the Internet's fastest growing market. ... Google's decision rankled Reporters Without Borders, a media watchdog group that has sharply criticized Internet companies including Yahoo and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com for submitting to China's censorship regime

Quick Overview

• The confidence of U.S. consumers rose in the latest week as concerns about weather and energy prices eased, ABC News and the Washington Post said on Tuesday.
  

• The Bank of Canada increased the overnight rate from 3.25% to 3.50%,
  

• The Russian government said that its GDP increased 6% in 2005.
  

• The Reserve Bank of India increased its interest rate from 5.25% to 5.50%, the highest in three years.
  

U.S. losing its luster as a talent magnet
This talent outflow poses more long-term dangers to our economy than the migration of low-skill-level jobs to cheaper foreign labor markets

Quick Overview

• The massive and growing U.S. current account deficit poses a threat to the world economy and an eventual adjustment will not necessarily be gradual, New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner said on Monday.
  
  
  

• The Conference Board's index of U.S. leading indicators was up 0.1%, less than expected.
  
  

• Canada's retail sales were up 1.1%.
  
  

• The USDA said there were 428 million pounds of frozen pork in storage, down 11% YoY. Frozen bellies totaled 47.9 million pounds, down 15% YoY.
  
  

• The USDA said there were 1.045 billion pounds of frozen orange juice in storage on December 31st, down 29% YoY.
  

I, Greenspan
Since I joined the Fed, outstanding home-mortgage debt has jumped from $1.8 trillion to $8.2 trillion. Total consumer debt went from $2.7 trillion to $11 trillion. Household debt has quadrupled.

And government debt, too, exploded. The feds owed less than $2 trillion in the second Reagan administration, a figure that had been almost constant for the previous 40 years. But under my direction, the red ink has overflowed like the Nile in flood – to over $7 trillion.

During the two terms of George W. Bush alone, the feds have borrowed more money from foreign governments and banks than all other American administrations put together, from 1776 to 2000. And more debt will be added in the eight Bush years than in the previous two hundred. The trade deficit, too, more than tripled since I’ve been at the Fed, from 150.7 to 756.8 billion, and will reach $830 billion in 2006. When I came to power, the United States was still a creditor. Now, it is a debtor, with more than $11 trillion worth of U.S. assets in foreign hands, a more than 500% increase since 1987.

Who can argue with such a record? Who can compete with it? Who would want to?

America's dark materials STARE at something long and hard enough, and it will begin to swim before your eyes. Economists have been scrutinising America's current-account deficit for years now, and they are no closer to agreeing on what they are looking at. Now two economists at Harvard doubt whether the deficit even exists.

MS, AOL and Yahoo! caved to Feds' fishing expedition
But on closer examination, Google's reasons for fighting the subpoena are less altruistic and more to do with its familiar refrain, of protecting "commercially sensitive information". And as a justification, that's almost as redundant as the DoJ's fishing expedition itself, when we remember that AOL uses Google search technology. The Feds already have what they want.

Chart of the day

Long term T-Bond Rate minus Discount Rate

Iran's Bomb There's been a lot of talk recently about Israel and/or the United States bombing the nuclear facilities in Iran. I wouldn't worry about that. I believe they are both bluffing.

Nuclear Showdown With Iran
So, at least for now, it appears President Ahmadinejad has decided to do a North Korea: that is, defy the western powers, dig in, and be ready to fight to the last man.

'Green' Measures Key to Earth's Future, Report Says

Iran calls for oil output cut
Iran has called for a cut in global oil production while simultaneously preparing to shift its foreign assets out of Europe.