I’m taking a brake from blogging because additional obligations I’m having are consuming too much of my time. Will be back on June 6, 2011.

B.

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*** The Big Picture: Greece’s last stand ***
*** FT Alphaville: Rejoining Club Med ***
*** FT Alphaville: Beware the ‘Splash Crash’ ***
*** FT Alphaville: Terry Smith doesn’t like ETFs ***
*** FT Alphaville: Goldman warns of significant China slowdown ***
*** The Atlantic: Chart of the Day: How Much Is the U.S. National Debt in Gold? ***
*** The Big Picture: Richards: “Gold is Not an Investment” ***
*** The Big Picture: Federal Reserve Posters (1920′s) ***
*** The Big Picture: Washington Post: “Five Disciplines To Be A Great Investor” ***

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U.S. new home sales rose 7.3% to 323.000 SAAR; Consensus was at 300.000 SAAR, prior reading (revised upward 1.000) was at 301.000 SAAR.

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Chicago Fed National Activity Index for April was reported at -0.45 vs. revised March reading of 0.32. Chicago Fed National Activity Index 3-month moving average is at -0.12.

CFNAI is pointing to mild economic growth.

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*** Macro Man: Dam Breach! ***
*** The Big Picture: Puru Saxena on Why QE3 is Inevitable ***
*** The Big Picture: A Losing Bet: The End of the World ***
*** FT Alphaville: Meanwhile, in the Spanish periphery… ***
*** FT Alphaville: Iceland’s second volcano e-raptures ***

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Baltic Dirty Tanker Index rose 0.5%; Baltic Clean Tanker Index fell 6.9%.

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Baltic dry index rose 3.3% last week; Capesize Index was up 11.2%; Panamax Index fell 3.1%; Supramax Index was down 1.4%; Handysize Index fell 1.0%.

Thermal coal stockpiles are unchanged at extremely low levels; Steel stockpiles also unchanged but stocks high; Iron ore stockpiles near record high. Prices strong.

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*** FT Alphaville: Competition time! LinkedIn valuation edition ***
*** FT Alphaville: Silver and short covering – a theory ***
*** FT Alphaville: Japan’s ‘temporary’ recession? ***
*** FT BeyondBRICs: China sets new standard in gold ***
*** The Big Picture: First Day IPO Pops ***
*** The Big Picture: Understandings Earnings Estimates ***
*** Gawker: Jon Stewart Takes Down Ben Stein’s Defense of Dominique Strauss-Kahn ***

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Working gas in storage rose 92 Bcf from previous week. The consensus was at 90 Bcf.

Storage level is 170 Bcf lower than same time year ago and bellow 5-year average.

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U.S. railroads originated 294,271 carloads, up 1.4% compared with the same week in 2010 and down 1.7% compared with 5-year average. Week over week change was 4.4%.

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No changes from last week. Weak demand, low distillates stocks, high crude stocks. Driving season ahead.

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Initial jobless claims in the U.S. were reported at 409.000 vs. 420.000 consensus and last week revised (up 4.000) reading of 438.000.

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*** FT Alphaville: Please wait 10 months for your aluminium. Thank you ***
*** FT Alphaville: The ‘Asia connection’ to the commodity rout ***
*** FT Alphaville: China’s trusts – still booming ***
*** The Big Picture: China’s Ghost Cities ***
*** The Big Picture: Sloppy Market? Blame the Financials ***
*** The Big Picture: Japan shows up in April IP ***
*** The Big Picture: Trading as a “Massive Multiplayer Experience” ***
*** The Big Picture: Religion vs Education vs Income? ***
*** Econbrowser: F for Fail ***

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Empire State Manufacturing General Business Conditions Index for May came out at 11.9 vs. 19.6 consensus and prior reading of 21.7.

Well, we have a series of negative surprises…

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Baltic dry index fell 2.5% last week; Capesize Index was down 4.6%; Panamax Index fell 2.8%; Supramax Index was up 0.4%; Handysize Index fell 0.5%.

Large decrease in thermal coal stockpiles; steel stockpiles also fell, iron ore stockpiles unchanged. Prices strong. No sign of any China slowdown.

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