Our star in pictures
The Japanese Hinode satellite has discovered a type of magnetic wave that ripples through the plasma of the sun’s atmosphere or “corona”. The waves may heat the corona to extreme temperatures by releasing energy as they travel outward from the sun along magnetic field lines. This could help explain the “corona problem” - the fact that the sun’s surface is only about 6,000 kelvin while the corona is at least 1 million kelvin

Quick Overview

• (Reuters) - Housing markets from Punta Gorda, Florida, to Stockton, California, will crash and suffer price drops of more than 30 percent before the housing crisis is over, a report from Moody's Economy.com said.
  
  
  

• U.S. Jobless claims fell 15,000 last week to 338,000.
  

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson announced a plan to help roughly 1.2 million distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure.
  

• The Bank of England cut interest rates from 5.75% to 5.50%
  

• YoY GDP in Australia rose 4.3%.
  

• The European Central Bank kept its interest rate unchanged at 4.0%.
  

• Toll Brothers Inc reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.
  

• Statistics Canada estimates Canada's 2007 wheat production at 20.05 million tons, down 21% YoY and down 587,000 tons from their September guess.
  

• Statistics Canada estimates 2007 corn production at 11.65 million tons, up 30% YoY.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said underground supplies of natural gas were down 88 billion cubic feet last week to 3.44 trillion cubic feet.
  

• YoY Oct. traffic at major US container ports fell 3.5%.
  

• The Reserve Bank of New Zealand left rates unchanged at 8.25%
  

• Japan Nov. preliminary Machine Tool Orders rose 13.0% YoY
  

• Switzerland Nov. Unemployment rate rose to 2.7%.
  
  
  

Cheap no more
Rising incomes in Asia and ethanol subsidies in America have put an end to a long era of falling food prices

China May Exhaust Existing Gold Mines in Six Years
Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- China, poised to overtake the U.S. as the second-biggest gold producer this year, must acquire more bullion assets overseas because existing mines will run out of ore in six years, Zijin Mining Group Co. said.

Shipping chief warns of ‘insane’ charter rates
One of the biggest operators in the booming dry bulk shipping market has warned that conditions where charter rates for ships have nearly tripled in a year, were “insane” and “unsustainable”.

Quick Overview

• The Institute of Supply Managements' index of services fell from 55.8 to 54.1 -- still recording growth.

• U.S. Productivity rose 6.3% -- the most since 2003
  

• US consumer confidence declined to 24 from 21 last week.
  

• U.S. factory orders rose 0.5% in October.
  

• U.S. non-farm productivity rose 2.7% -- better than estimated.
  

• U.S. Unit labor costs rose 3.0%.
  

• Australia left rates unchanged at 6.75% as expected
  

• Australia’s Nov. Services Index rose to 56.4 from 53.2.
  

• UK‘s Consumer confidence dropped to 86 vs. 94 expected
  

• QoQ Australia GDP rose 1.0%, YoY GDP rose 4.3% vs. 4.8% expected.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil fell 8.0 million barrels to 305.2 million barrels
  Supplies of gasoline rose 4.0 million barrels.
  Supplies of heating oil supplies fell 1.1 million barrels.
  Refinery use unchanged at 89.4% of capacity.
  Gasoline demand rose 0.2%
  Distillate demand rose 5.9%.
  

Corn Jumps to Highest in Five Months on Demand for U.S. Exports
Current moderate La Nina weather conditions in the equatorial Pacific Ocean may lead to dry weather during South America's critical corn-pollination period in January, Widenor said. In three of the four moderate La Nina periods since 1950, Argentina's growing regions received as little as 25 percent of normal rainfall in January, he said.

Subprime Rate Five-Year Fix Eyed by U.S. Regulators, Lenders
About 100,000 subprime loans will jump from their discounted initial rates every month for the next two years, UBS AG estimates. American home foreclosures almost doubled in October from a year earlier as subprime borrowers failed to make higher payments on adjustable-rate mortgages,...
...These mortgages usually begin with a rate of between 7 percent to 9 percent and then reset to between 11 percent and 13 percent. ``What we are talking about is having these loans modified, so they continue for a longer period of time at the starter rate,'' ..

Quick Overview

• UK Nov. BRC retail sales monitor says retail sales rose 3.1% YoY, as discounting increased revenues.
  

• Australia Oct. retail sales rose 0.2% vs. 0.6% expected.
  

• The Bank of Canada reduced its benchmark rate from 4.50% to 4.25%
  
  

THE NIE REPORT: SOLVING A GEOPOLITICAL PROBLEM WITH IRAN
With this announcement, the dynamics of the Middle Eastern region, Iraq and U.S.-Iranian relations shift dramatically. For one thing, the probability of a unilateral strike against Iranian nuclear targets is gone. Since there is no Iranian nuclear weapons program, there is no rationale for a strike. Moreover, if Iran is not engaged in weapons production, then a broader air campaign designed to destabilize the Iranian regime has no foundation either.

Quick Overview

• U.S. Treasury’s Henry Paulson is confident an agreement will soon be reached that will help thousands of homeowners avoid mortgage defaults by temporarily holding their interest rates steady.
  

• Japan Q3 Capital Spending rose 3.4% YoY
  

• Australia's Oct. Trade Balance out at -2983M vs. -1800M expected.
  

• EU 13 unemployment fell to 7.2 % in October.
  

• The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index fell to 50.8 in November -- the fifth straight monthly decline.
  

• The U.S. average price of diesel pushed past a record level for the third time in four weeks, rising 3.4 cents a gallon to $3.444.
  

• Gold demand in China, including the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, rose 24 percent in the third quarter to 88.1 tons, the World Gold Council said.
  

• The U.S. national debt is expanding by about $1.4 billion a day -- or nearly $1 million a minute.
  
  

• Thailand’s economy grew 4.9% YoY.
  

• Manufacturing in the U.K. rose from 52.8 to 54.4 in November.
  

Sex, chocolate, meat top brain boosters
Plenty of sex, dark chocolate and cold meats are the latest keys to boosting your brain power, according to a new book published in Britain.

Bush Administration Offers Paul Wolfowitz Top State Department Job
Don't ever say the Bush administration doesn't take care of its own. Nearly three years after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as deputy Defense secretary and six months after his stormy departure as president of the World Bank—amid allegations that he improperly awarded a raise to his girlfriend—he's in line to return to public service. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has offered Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the Iraq War, a position as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board..

Banks may freeze subprime loan rates to avoid home foreclosures
The banks' plan recognizes that, absent a proactive move, many subprime ARMs could reset next year to 12 percent or more from current rates of 7 percent to 9 percent.
"I think there is a basic assumption here that there is money that is going to be lost one way or the other," said Wayne Abernathy, the executive director of financial institution policy at the American Bankers Association.

Guantanamo prisoners to ask Supreme Court for basic rights
Multiple Guantanamo Bay cases are being combined for an hour-long oral argument Wednesday morning. The justices must first decide whether some 340 foreign-born prisoners are protected by constitutional habeas corpus guarantees.
Habeas corpus, which in Latin means "produce the body," is a 13th century tenant of law enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. It enables prisoners to demand in federal court the legal justification and factual basis for their detention.

RealtyTrac: Foreclosures up 165 percent in Florida
Nationwide, there were more than 224,000 properties in foreclosure, or one for every 555 households. Filings were up 94 percent from October of last year and up 2 percent from September.
Though the filings continue to increase, RealtyTrac said there is some evidence that conditions are improving.

Quick Overview

• U.S. Personal incomes rose 0.2% in October.
  Personal consumption expenditures rose 0.2% in October and 1.9% YoY.
  

• The Federal Reserve would not hesitate to act to prevent financial strains from damaging the economy and any steps it does take are not made to shield investors, a top Fed official said on Friday.
  
  

• U.S. Construction spending fell 0.8% MoM and 0.6% YoY.
  

• The Chicago purchasing managers index rose from 49.7 to 52.9, stronger than expected
  
  

• Moody's downgraded or put on review debt totaling $119 billion that was issued by SIVs, including some tied to Citigroup.
  

• Congress may legislate a boost in fuel-economy standards to 35 miles a gallon by 2020.
  

• GDP in Canada rose 0.7% in the third quarter and 2.9% YoY.
  

• Japans consumer prices rose 0.3%
  Japans unemployment rate unchanged at 4% in October and
  Japans household spending rose 0.6% in October.
  Japans housing starts fell 35% YoY
  

• GDP in the euro zone rose 2.7% YoY
  

• Retail sales in Germany fell 2.7%
  

• GDP in India rose 8.9%.
  

• The International Cocoa Organization estimates the 2006-2007 estimate of world cocoa ending stocks at 1.6 million tons or 44% of annual use.
  

Quick Overview

• The Fed’s Bernanke said, in prepared comments that financial-market turmoil may put additional strain on the U.S. economy, signaling he is open to cuts in interest rates.
  

• QoQ U.S. GDP rose at an annual rate of 4.9%, the best quarterly performance in four years. YoY GDP rose 2.8%,
  

• The U.S. GDP price deflator rose 0.9% in the third quarter.
  

• The U.S. Census Bureau said that new home sales rose 1.7% from September's pace. YoY new home sales are down 24%.
  

• The Federal Reserve will act to protect the wider economy from financial turmoil but not to shelter individual investors from losses.
  
  

• Industrial production in Japan rose 1.6% -- a new record high.
  

• Housing prices in the U.K. fell 0.8% in November,
  

• GDP in the Philippines rose 6.6% in the third quarter.
  

• The U.S. Energy Department said that underground supplies of natural gas were down 12 billion cubic feet last week to 3.528 trillion cubic feet.
  

Deadbeat Developers Signaled by Property Derivatives (Update2) The cost of derivatives protecting investors from defaults on the highest-rated bonds backed by properties more than doubled in the past month, according to Markit Group Ltd. Prices suggest traders anticipate defaults rising to the highest level since the Great Depression, according to analysts at RBS Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Quick Overview

• The Dow-Jones industrial average had its biggest two-day rally in five years after a Federal Reserve official hinted that the central bank may lower interest rates again.
  

• The National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales fell 1.2% in October and 20.7% YoY. The median home price fell 5.1% YoY.
  

• U.S. Durable goods orders fell 0.4% in October. Excluding transport, orders fell 0.7%.
  

• The Federal Reserve's Beige book said that reports on retail spending were lackluster and real estate remained depressed.
  

• Japan retail sales rose 0.8% YoY.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil fell 400,000 barrels to 313.2 million barrels.
  Supplies of gasoline rose 1.4 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil supplies rose 1.3 million barrels.
  Refinery use rose from 87.0 to 89.4%.
  Gasoline demand rose 0.4%
  Distillate demand rose 3.7%.
  

• Argentina closed down wheat exports for five days to protect domestic supplies.