Quick Overview

• U.S. GDP rose 0.8% in Q1 and up 2.5% YoY

• The University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment rose from 69.5 to 72.2
  

• The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index rose from 58.8 to 63.8 in April,
  

• YoY Japan's consumer prices fell 1.1% in March
  

• Japans unemployment rate rose from 4.9% to 5.0%
  

• Spain's unemployment rate rose from 18.8% to 20.1%
  

• Canada’s GDP rose 0.3% MoM and 1.8% YoY.
  

• Danish shipping giant A.P.Møller-Maersk is ready to launch an offensive and invest in new acquisitions if suitable objects emerge in the wake of the financial crisis. According to the group's chairman of the board Michael Pram Rasmussen, Maersk has the financial strength to make acquisitions.
  

• U.S. ethanol refiners are using more corn to make Ethanol. Production was 32% higher YoY.
  

• Gold rose to a new high for the year amid concerns over euro zone debt problems.

Quick Overview

• DJ Louisiana Parish Pres: Spill To Hit Pass-a-Loutre Nature Reserve Late Thu
  

• U.S. jobless claims fell 11,000 last week to 448,000.
  
  

• Brazil's Ag Ministry, predicted that sugar production will be up 17% in 2010-2011
  

• Germany's unemployment rate improved from 8.0% to 7.8% in April.

• Japan's coastguard seeks to arrest environmental activist Paul Watson for disrupting whale hunts, reports say.

• The US Coast Guard investigates reports that oil has begun washing ashore on the Gulf Coast
  

EMU domino fears as Spain downgraded, Germany drags feet on rescue Europe risks the biggest coordination failure in modern history,” said David Simmonds, research chief at RBS. The Berlin talks are as vague as ever. “We believe that markets will remain very sceptical.”

Quick Overview

• The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of mortgage applications fell 2.9% last week.
  

• China's Ag Ministry said that snow in northeastern China will delay planting by more than ten days.
  

• The USDA have confirmed a sale of 115,000 MT of old crop US corn to China. US corn into China's ports will be important test with potentially significant implications..how much corn do they intend to purchase, as drought cripples their grain belt and demand rises on a robust economy."
  

• YoY Australia's consumer price index rose 2.9% in Q1
  

• YoY Japan's retail sales rose 4.7% in March

• Republicans blocked progress on financial reform for a third day.
  

• Firms are now able to post physical gold to CME Clearing to cover non-segregated Performance Bond requirements.
  

• Spain became the latest European country to see its credit rating cut.
  

Olive Oil and Snake Oil
In an e-mail to his girlfriend, he called his “Frankenstein” creation “a product of pure intellectual masturbation, the type of thing which you invent telling yourself: ‘Well, what if we created a “thing,” which has no purpose, which is absolutely conceptual and highly theoretical and which nobody knows how to price?’ ”

Maastricht madhouse fuels EMU-wide contagion from Greece
If so, we will find out soon. Four professors will launch a legal challenge in early May at the Verfassungsgericht (high court). Should they secure an injunction, EMU may fly apart.

Quick Overview

• The S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices in twenty U.S. cities fell 0.9% MoM, but rose 0.6% YoY
  

• IBM is increasing its dividend payout by 18%
  

• Standard & Poor's downgraded its credit rating on Portugal.

• Greece’s credit rating was cut three steps to junk by Standard and Poor
  

• U,S. consumer confidence irose from 52.3 to 57.9 in April,
  

• The Fed Richmond's regional index of manufacturing increased from +6 to +9 in April
  

• YoY South Korea GDP rose 7.8% in Q1
  

'Serious deficit' could send cocoa to record highs And even growers prepared to invest in plantations, in Ivory Coast or elsewhere, may be tempted to switch to rubber, a crop which can provide year-round income, is less prone to disease and whose price have also soared.

Brain-like computing on an organic molecular layer
The monolayer has intelligence; it can solve many problems on the same grid.

CHINA is expected to become a dominant force in the world animal feed market. Pork consumption has doubled in the past ten years.
Compound feed fed to pigs currently accounts for only about 40 million tonnes, but this could rise to about 180 million tonnes as the feeding of swill is phased out under a "safe meat" policy. Only 40% of all Chinese meat currently complies with this "safe meat" policy, this is expected to reach 80% by 2015.

English will be the official language of the European Union:
Latest news:

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as 'Euro-English'.

In the first year, 's' will replace the soft 'c'. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard 'c' will be dropped in favour of 'k'. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome 'ph' will be replaced with 'f'. Thi s will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent 'e' in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.
By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as
replasing 'th' with 'z' and 'w' with 'v'.

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary 'o' kan be dropd from vords kontaining 'ou' and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.

Quick Overview

• Boosted by a soon-to-expire tax break, low mortgage rates and favorable weather, sales of U.S. new homes surged 27% in March and up 23.8% YoY
  

• Customs authorities said China's exports rose 24.3% in March to US$112.1 billion from the same month a year earlier, while imports soared 66% YoY $119.3 billion. Foreign trade rose 44.1% to $617.85 billion.
  

• The U.S. Commerce Department said that durable goods orders fell 1.3% in March. Excluding transportation, orders rose 2.8%

• U.K. GDP rose 0.2% in Q1 and fell 0 .3% YoY
  

• Canada’s consumer price index rose 1.4%
  Canada’s retail sales rose 0 .5% in February
  

• EU industrial new orders rose 1.1% in February and 12.7% YoY
  

• The USDA said that, as of March 31st, there were 510.5 million pounds of frozen pork in storage, down 14% YoY
  

• The USDA said that 2.21 billion pounds of beef were produced in March, up 3% YoY
  

• The USDA said pork production totaled 2.04 billion pounds, up 4% YoY
  
  
  
  

Fitch warns of debt 'shock' for Japan
The Fitch Report comes two days after the IMF warned that the global banking crisis has mutated into a sovereign debt crisis that risks setting off a second phase of economic turmoil.

Quick Overview

• U.S. jobless claims fell 24,000 last week to 456,000,
  

• U.S. Producer price index rose 0.7% MoM and up 6.0% YoY
  

• U.S. Existing home sales rose 6.8%.
  

• Canada’s leading indicators rose 1.0% in March
  

• Manufacturing and services in the Euro area rose from 55.9 to 57.3
  

• YoY U.K. Retail sales rose 2.2% in March.
  

• The International Grains Council (IGC) sees wheat carryout at the end of 2010/11 at a nine year high of 199 MMT. The increase, despite lower production and higher usage, is due to the 30 MMT increase in opening stocks left over from bumper production in 2008/09.
  Corn ending stocks on the other hand are seen falling from 148 MMt to 140 MMT at the end of 2010/11.

• China's copper imports rose by 53% in March

• Greek debt fears continue to shake world markets

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Mortgage Bankers Association's index of mortgage applications increased 13.6% last week.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said:
  Supplies of crude oil rose 1.9 million barrels last week to 355.9 million barrels.
  Supplies of gasoline rose 3.6 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil rose 600,000 barrels.
  Refinery use increased from 85.6% to 85.9% of capacity
  Gasoline demand rose 2.7%
  Distillate demand fell 0.1%

Solar Superstorm
Scientists are finally beginning to properly understand a historic solar storm in 1859. One day, the storm, which was the most potent disruption of Earth's ionosphere in recorded history could happen again

An Eruption of Reality
But beyond a certain level, connectivity becomes a hazard. The longer and more complex the lines of communication and the more dependent we become on production and business elsewhere, the greater the potential for disruption. This is one of the lessons of the banking crisis. Impoverished mortagage defaulters in the United States - the butterfly’s wing over the Atlantic - almost broke the global economy. If the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano - by no means a monster - keeps retching it could, in these fragile times, produce the same effect.

We have several such vulnerabilities. The most catastrophic would be an unexpected coronal mass ejection - a solar storm - which causes a surge of direct current down our electricity grids, taking out the transformers. It could happen in seconds; the damage and collapse would take years to reverse, if we ever recovered. We would soon become aware of our dependence on electricity: an asset which, like oxygen, we notice only when it fails.

Quick Overview

• U.K. Consumer price index rose 3.4%
  

• India raised its interest rate from 5.00% to 5.25%.
  

• Goldman Sachs said that it earned $3.46 billion in Q1, up $1.8 billion YoY
  

• India stopped exporting cotton to protect domestic supplies.
  
  

Germany warns of 'Lehman' crisis if Greece defaults
An administrator of China's foreign exchange fund SAFE – the world's top investor – was quoted by Asia's newswire IGM-FX warning that Greece may set off a chain reaction in the eurozone, and that some states with big debts may default.

Quick Overview

• CitiBank reports its strongest results in three years as Q1 profit surges to $4.43 billion, or 15c a share.
  

• The Conference Board's index of leading indicators rose 1.4% in March
  

• Construction output in the EU fell 2.9% MoM and 10.2% YoY
  

• July lumber closed up its $10 daily limit for the second day

• The SEC split 3 to 2 along party lines to approve an enforcement action against Goldman Sachs.

• PG announced an increase in the quarterly dividend from $0.44 to $0.4818 per share. P&G has been paying a dividend for 120 consecutive years since its incorporation in 1890.