Quick Overview

• The New York Federal Reserve's regional index of manufacturing fell from -26.14 to -39.08
  

• YoY, the number of U.S. airline passengers fell 12.8% in November – the biggest drop in domestic and international passengers since January 2002.
  

• Singapore January exports fell 35% as global demand collapses.
  
  

• Japan's GDP fell 3.3% in Q4
  

• YoY U.K. consumer prices rose 3.0%
  

• Canada’s manufacturing sales fell 8.0% in December
  

• (CNN Money) There's a nice windfall for some homebuyers in the economic stimulus bill awaiting President Obama's signature on Tuesday. First-time buyers can claim a credit worth $8,000 - or 10% of the home's value, whichever is less - on their 2008 or 2009 taxes.

• The SEC filed charges against R. Allen Stanford, alleging he orchestrated a multi-billion dollar scheme centering on an $8 billion CD program.

• General Motors said it needs $16.6 billion in new U.S. loans. Chrysler needs another 5 billion

Eastern European currencies crumble as fears of debt crisis grow
Austria’s banks are the most exposed with the share of risk-weighted assets tied to the region reaching 54pc for Raffeisen and 38pc for Erste Bank. The exposure of Germany’s Bayern Bank is 48pc, Italy’s UniCredit is 45pc, and Swedbank is 29pc.

Banks Face Downgrades on Eastern European Losses, Moody’s Says
Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Austrian, Swedish and other banks with subsidiaries in eastern European may face rating downgrades as economies in the region deteriorate, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Still aglister
..world gold supply will contract more slowly than demand, causing excess supply to rise by 21% to 553 tonnes. Only the worldwide flight to safety and the lack of appeal of other assets, it seems, will keep gold prices high.

Dreadful economic results in Japan suggest that things will only get gloomier
The preliminary estimate suggested that the economy had shrunk at an annualised rate of 12.7% during the period, the third consecutive quarter of contraction.

When stress is at its worst, sex can stop you fretting When a couple are lying in bed and the man is worrying about his job and the woman is fretting about her savings, neither of them is properly primed for sex.
It is a pity..

Failure to save East Europe will lead to worldwide meltdown
Whether it takes months, or just weeks, the world is going to discover that Europe's financial system is sunk, and that there is no EU Federal Reserve yet ready to act as a lender of last resort or to flood the markets with emergency stimulus.

House panel adopts financial oversight bill
It would expand the authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, one of the smallest federal agencies, by giving it criminal prosecution power over companies and individuals that violate antifraud rules - something only the Justice Department is now empowered to do. And it specifically prohibits the Federal Reserve from regulating the derivatives markets, saying either the CFTC or the Securities and Exchange Commission could step into that role.

Quick Overvieww

• The University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment fell from 61.2 to 56.2
  

• GDP in the Euro area fell 1.2% YOY
  

• Germanys GDP fell 2.1% QoQ, the biggest drop since 1987
  

• Canada’s new vehicle sales fell 14.8% MoM and 22.5% YoY.
  

• South Korea lowered its interest rate from 2.5% to 2.0%.
  

• (Reuters) - G7 finance ministers headed to Rome to discuss the global economic crisis on Friday with a warning from Germany that the world could be plunged back into the dark days of the 1930s if governments resorted to protectionism.
  

• The U.K. government is urged to ensure bank chief executives have a "recognized banking qualification".
  

High debt levels endanger Britain's AAA credit rating for first time
The massive bank bail-outs and fiscal packages have created a new hazard known as "risk socialisation".

Quick Overview

• U.S. retail sales rose 1.0% in January

• U.S. Jobless claims were 623,000 last week
  

• Australia’s unemployment rate rose from 4.5% to 4.8%
  

• Euro area industrial production fell 2.6% MoM and 12.0% YoY.
  

• YoY prices of existing U.S. single-family homes fell 12.4% to $180,100 in the fourth quarter -- the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday.
  

• China's CPI rose 1.0% YoY
  

• South African gold output fell 17.6% YoY

China’s New Loans Rise by Record on Stimulus Efforts (Update2)
The jump in new loans to twice the record set a year earlier shows China may succeed in reviving growth even as credit markets around the world remained locked..

Quick Overview

• European banks sitting on £16.3 trillion of toxic assets may suffer massive losses according to a confidential Brussels document.

• The U.S. trade deficit shrank 4.0% in December to $39.93 billion.
  

• The U.K.'s unemployment rate at 6.3%, up from 6.1% MoM.
  

• Canada’s exports fell 9.7% in December while imports fell 5.7%.
  

• China's trade plunged in January. YoY exports fell 17.5%, imports fell 43%.
  

• The Bank of England signaled it was prepared to take unconventional steps (printing) to boost the UK economy
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said:
  Supplies of crude oil rose 4.7 million barrels last week to 350.8 million
  Supplies of gasoline fell 2.6 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil fell 2.1 million barrels.
  Refinery use fell from 83.5% to 81.6%
  Gasoline demand rose 0.1% YoY
  Distillate demand fell 1.1% YoY
  

• Ruth Madoff, the wife of Bernard Madoff, withdrew $15.5 million from a Madoff brokerage firm before her husband's arrest.

Geithner Says Bank-Rescue Plans May Reach $2 Trillion (Update1)
“Instead of catalyzing recovery, the financial system is working against recovery,” Geithner said in unveiling the Obama administration’s overhaul of the government’s financial-bailout plans in Washington today. “At the same time, the recession is putting greater pressure on banks. This is a dangerous dynamic, and we need to arrest it.”

Quick Overview

• Japan's consumer confidence improved from 26.2 to 26.4
  

• Australia’s business confidence fell from -20 to -32
  

• The USDA estimates U.S. 2008-2009 ending stocks of:
  Corn unchanged at 1.790 billion bushels.
  Soybeans lowered from 225 to 210 million bushels.
  Wheat unchanged at 655 million bushels.
  Sugar was reduced from 1.072 to 1.066 million tons.
  Cotton was raised from 6.90 to 7.70 million bales.
  

• The USDA estimates 2008-2009 ending stocks of:
  Corn was raised from 136 to 137 million tons.
  Soybeans were reduced from 54 to 50 million tons.
  Wheat was raised from 148 to 150 million tons.
  Cotton was raised from 59 to 62 million tons.
  
  

• The USDA lowered 2009 beef production estimate from 26.54 to 26.11 million pounds
  

• The USDA reduced its estimate of pork production from 23.035 to 22.980 million pounds
  

• The USDA lowered its estimate of the 2008-2009 Florida orange crop from 162 to 158 million boxes and juice yield from 1.62 to 1.61 gallons per box.
  
  
  
  

Quick Overview

• Canada’s housing starts fell 11%.
  

• Japan's machinery orders fell 1.7% in December.
  

• The International Coffee Organization increased its estimate of 2008-2009 world production from 132.5 to 133.4 million bags.

Bond market calls Fed's bluff as global economy falls apart
The Fed has stepped into the breach, up to a point. It has bought $350bn of commercial paper, and begun to buy $600bn of mortgage bonds. That helps. But still it recoils from buying Treasuries, perhaps fearing that any move to "monetise" Washington's deficit starts a slippery slope towards an Argentine fate. Or perhaps Bernanke doesn't believe his own assurances that the Fed can extract itself easily from emergency policies when the cycle turns.

Quick Overview

• U.S. unemployment rose from 7.2% to 7.6% in January -- the highest rate in 16 years.
  
  

• Canada’s unemployment rate rose from 6.6% to 7.2% in
  

• The U.K.'s manufacturing output fell 2.2%.

China Declares Highest Level of Drought Emergency (Update2
(Bloomberg) -- China, the world’s largest grain producer, raised its drought emergency alert to level one, the highest class, for the first time, as dry weather threatened crops, livestock and rural incomes.

Cheap Crops Won’t Last, Credit Suisse Says: ..corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade, adjusted for inflation, are 32 percent below their monthly average price since 1972. Corn fell to an 18-month low on the CBOT in December. Soybeans futures are 27 percent cheaper than their monthly inflation-adjusted average, and wheat is at a 25 percent discount.