Quick Overview

• U.S. GDP contracted at a 6.2% annual rate in Q4
  
  

• The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell from 61.2 to 56.3 in January
  

• Chicago's purchasing managers' index rose from 33.3 to 34.2 in February
  

• Unemployment in the Euro area rose from 8.1% to 8.2% in January.
  

• Consumer prices in the Euro area rose 1.1% YoY
  

• Japan's factory output fell 10.0% in January
  Japan’s household spending fell 5.9% YoY
  

• India’s GDP grew 5.3% YoY
  

• The U.S. government will boost its equity stake in Citigroup to 36%.
  

• Sweden’s GDP contracted 10% on an annualized basis.

• General Electric Co. will cut its quarterly dividend to 10 cents a share from 31 cents, according to CNBC.

Exclusive: Derivatives for Dummies by The Other Katherine Harris
Imagine being able to insure a car that you don’t own or use. Imagine it’s the car your neighbors will let their teenage son drive, when he gets his license in a few weeks — and you know the kid is a reckless brat.
Now imagine that, by using financial derivatives called swaps, you can purchase as many insurance policies on this car as you can afford to pay premiums on.

BERNIE & THE DOMINOS
3 MORE 'SCAMS' EXPOSED
"There are potentially hundreds of millions of other dollars, and we have no idea where that money is," Klein said, adding that there could be more than 350 victims.

Las Vegas Running Out of Water Means Dimming Los Angeles Lights
In Asia, developing giants are battling pollution as their populations grow. China, home to 21 percent of the world’s people last year, has just 7 percent of the water. Nine in 10 Chinese-city groundwater systems are fouled by industrial toxins, pesticides and human waste..

..In India, with 1.2 billion people, three-quarters of the surface water is contaminated, that country’s government said in September.

The Iran-Israel nuclear endgame is now much closer
In recent days, four key developments have clicked in to edge Iran and Israel much closer to a military denouement ..

Quick Overview

• U.S. jobless claims rose 36,000 last week to 667,000, the most in over 16 years. Americans continuing to receive unemployment benefits topped 5.1 million.
  
  

• U.S. durable goods orders fell 5.2% MoM.

• UK Feb. House Prices fell 17.6% YoY vs. 17.1% expected
  
  

• GM lost $9.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009.

• The number of troubled U.S. banks rose 47% to 252 in Q4 the FDIC said.

• PepsiCo has announced it will be introducing a new line of ‘pure sugar’ soft drinks in late April.
  

Quick Overview

• Existing-home sales fell 5.3% to a nearly 12-year low in January, and the median home price fell to $170,300 from $199,800 YoY.
  

• U.K. GDP fell 1.5% in the fourth quarter
  

• Industrial new orders in the Euro area fell 5.2% MoM and 22% YoY.

• YoY EU steel production fell 45.9% in January
  

• Czarnikow increased its estimate of the 2008-2009 world sugar production deficit from 5.8 to 10.4 million tons.
  

• The U.S. DOE said:
  Supplies of crude oil rose 700,000 barrels to 351.3 million barrels.
  Supplies of gasoline fell 3.4 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil fell 300,000 barrels.
  Refinery use fell from 82.3% to 81.4% of capacity
  Gasoline demand fell 1.7% YoY
  Distillate demand fell 1.6% YoY
  

• South Africa's Chamber of Mines said the nation's gold production fell 14% in 2008 to the lowest level since 1922.
  

• Bernanke said at risk homeowners need a bailout - even if they knew they couldn't afford their home in the first place.
  

• (Reuters) - The Arctic and Antarctic regions are warming faster than previously thought, raising world sea levels and making drastic global climate change more likely than ever, international scientists said on Wednesday.

Quick Overview

• YoY the S&P's/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 cities fell 18.5% in December
  

• U.S. consumer confidence fell to a record low of 25 from Januarys 37.4 the Conference Board said
  

• German business confidence index (IFO) fell to 82.6 from 83 in January
  

• Pimco's Gross said that any effort by the U.S. government to nationalize floundering banks wouldn't work, partly because of the number of banks involved.
  

• YoY air cargo flying on Latin American airlines fell 25.4% in December

Will Germany deliver on the Faustian bargain that created monetary union?
The vast imbalances that have been allowed to build up under the seductive protection of EMU leave German taxpayers facing bail-out liabilities that exceed the cost of reparations after the First World War, in proportional terms.

Obama’s Policy on Civil Liberties: Bush Lite?
.. Unfortunately, instead of prosecuting Bush administration officials, including George W. Bush, for violating criminal statutes against torture, illegal wiretapping of Americans, and other misdeeds—thus avoiding the bad precedent of giving a president a free pass on illegal acts—Obama appears ready to vindicate the prior administration’s anti-terrorism program by adopting Bush Lite.

Quick Overview

• (Bloomberg) -- U.S. financial regulators pledged to inject additional funds into the nation’s major banks to prevent their collapse and will this week begin examinations to determine if they have enough capital.
  

• (Bloomberg) -- Asian nations will form a $120 billion pool of foreign-exchange reserves that can be used by countries to defend their currencies in an expansion of efforts to battle fallout from the global financial crisis.
  

• Hillary is pleading with China to continue buying US Treasury bonds amid mounting fears that Washington may struggle to finance bank bailouts and ballooning deficits over the next two years.
  

• Obama has set the goal of cutting the federal government's budget deficit in half by the end of his first term.
  

• Canada’s retail sales were down 5.4% in December
  

• Political unrest by Argentinean farmers continues over the issue of export taxes.
  

• The USDA said cattle on-feed were down 5.7% YoY
  

• The USDA said frozen pork supplies were up 3.5% YoY.
  

• The USDA said frozen supplies of orange juice concentrate were up 42% YoY
  

• Cocaine has fallen in price. It's now cheaper than beer, says the Telegraph.
  

UBS wobbles as Swiss fear for banking icon
"Without banking secrecy, we would have a million people unemployed over the next years," Freysinger said. "People cannot imagine how much depends on the banking secrecy and what it means for Switzerland's welfare."

Jumbo Loan Defaults Rise at Fast Pace as Rich Suffer (Update2)
“They’re telling me the house is only worth $1.3 million,” said Young, 46. “I’m upside down. I’m stuck. I’m in bailout mode but they’re bailing out banks and they’re not bailing out homeowners.”

Quick Overview

• U.S. consumer price index rose 0.3% MoM and is unchanged YoY. Excluding food and energy, prices rose 0.2% MoM and up 1.7% YoY

• (FT) US financial stocks endured more heavy losses early as fears persisted that the government would be forced to nationalise a key institution and thus wipe out shareholders
  

• U.K. retail sales rose 0.7% MoM and up 3.6% YoY

• UK car production fell 58.7% in January.
  

• YoY Canada consumer price index rose 1.1% in January.
  

Quick Overview

• Europe's institutions are scrambling to prevent financial contagion from Ukraine and potentially setting off a full-blown banking crisis in Austria.
  

• Daily Telegraph: Global fund managers are betting that a powerful rebound in China will revive demand for commodities and lead global industry out of slump.

• U.S. Leading indicators rose 0.4% in January, more than expected, and led by a jump in money supply.
  

• U.S. producer price index rose 0.8% MoM and fell 1.0% YoY
  

• U.S. jobless claims were unchanged at 627,000.
  

• The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's regional index of manufacturing fell from -24.3 to -41.3
  

• Japan kept rates unchanged at 0.10%
  

• Canada’s leading indicators fell 0.8%

• The U.S. DOE said:
  Supplies of crude oil fell 200,000 barrels to 350.6 million barrels.
  Supplies of gasoline rose 1.1 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil fell 700,000 barrels
  Refinery use rose from 81.6% to 82.3% of capacity
  Gasoline demand rose 0.8 YoY
  Distillate demand rose 0.3% YoY
  
  

Ukraine must be rescued from tragi-comedy for Europe's sake
Meanwhile gross domestic product has contracted by 20pc over the last year, apparently worse than early Bolshevism or the Stalin famine.

UBS Will Disclose Names, Pay $780 Million to End U.S. Tax Case
Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, will pay $780 million and disclose the names of some secret account holders..

Madoff Loss Spawned in ‘Bargain With Devil’ at Cerberus Bank
..As many as 50 percent of companies owned by private-equity firms may default by 2011, according to a study of 328 holdings by Boston Consulting Group.

Obama Sets $75 Billion Plan to Stem U.S. Foreclosures (Update1)
Homeowners also are eligible for $1,000 annually for five years for remaining current on their loans, according to the plan.

Quick Overview

• U.S. housing starts plunged 17% percent last month to an annual rate of 466,000.
  

• The Mortgage Bankers' Association said mortgage applications rose 46% last week.
  

• Australia’s retail sales rose 0.8%
  

• Canada’s wholesale sales fell 3.4% in December
  

• Construction output in the Euro area fell 2.2%MoM and 10.1% YoY.
  

• Demand for gold rose by 29% to $102bn last year, according to the World Gold Council.
  

• Latvia's Finance Ministry announced that the economy will shrink 12% this year.
  

• Greenspan said the U.S. government may have to nationalize banks “temporarily”.
  

• The number of idle containerships has increased to 392, aggregating to 1,100,000 TEU, or 8.8% of the box fleet, according to Paris-based AXS-Alphaliner News.
  

• E*Trade reported a 30% slide in new accounts opened in January as it deals with a waning appetite for the equities markets.