U.S. Initial Jobless Claims At 408.000; Up 9.000
Initial jobless claims in the U.S. were reported at 408.000 vs. 405.000 consensus and last week revised (up 4.000) reading of 399.000.
U.S. Consumer Price Index Rose 0.5% In July
U.S. consumer price index rose 0.5% in July vs. 0.2% consensus and June reading of -0.2%. On year level CPI inflation is running at 3.6%.
U.S. Producer Price Index Rose 0.2% In July
U.S. producer price index rose 0.2% in July vs. 0.1% consensus. June reading was at -0.4%. On year level PPI is up 7.2%.
Tanker Weekly – August 16, 2011
Baltic Dirty Tanker Index fell 2.2%; Baltic Clean Tanker Index rose 0.3%.
Dry Bulk Weekly – August 16, 2011
Baltic dry index rose 1.5% last week; Capesize Index was up 2.6%; Panamax Index rose 2.2%; Supramax Index was up 0.4%; Handysize Index fell 2.7%.
Iron ore inventory at all time high, price unchanged; Steel inventory and price stable; Thermal coal inventory and price stable.
August University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Preliminary Reading At 54.9
March University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment preliminary reading was reported at 54.9 vs. 62.0 consensus and 63.7 July reading.
U.S. Natural Gas Weekly – August 12, 2011
Working gas in storage rose 25 Bcf from previous week. Consensus was at 35 Bcf.
Storage level is 202 Bcf lower than same time year ago and bellow 5-year average.
U.S. Retail Sales Rose 0.5% In July
U.S. retail sales were reported up 0.5% in July vs. 0.5% consensus. June reading was at 0.3% (revised from 0.1%). On year level retail sales are up 8.5%.
U.S. Petroleum Weekly – August 11, 2011
Technically crude oil (WTI) looks heavily oversold. Massive fall in total crude oil and distillates inventory.
China Trade Balance Surplus Larger Than Expected In July
China trade balance was reported at USD 31.5 billion vs. USD 22.3 billion in June and USD 27.4 billion consensus. Export and import growth were running at 20.4 and 22.9 percent vs. 17.9 and 19.3 percent y-o-y in June.
Strong set of figures.
FOMC Statement – August 9, 2011
Most important sentence: “The Committee currently anticipates that economic conditions–including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run–are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through mid-2013.” Economic growth so far this year has been considerably slower than the Committee had expected.
Three dissenters!!!
China July CPI Inflation At 6.5%; PPI Inflation At 7.5%
China Consumer Price Index was up 6.5% in July, vs. 6.4% consensus and 6.4% June reading. Food inflation jumped 14.8%, up from June’s 14.4%. The government’s target for the year was at 4%.
China Producer Price Index was up 7.5% vs. 7.5% consensus and 7.1% June reading. This suggests rising CPI.
Difficult position for China, the economy is slowing down and inflation is rising.
Rig Count Monthly – August 8, 2011
Number of crude oil drilling rigs in the U.S. rose for 24 in July; Number of natural gas drilling rigs rose for 6.
On world scale number of oil & gas drilling rigs rose for 140 in July.
Tanker Weekly – August 8, 2011
Baltic Dirty Tanker Index fell 1.0%; Baltic Clean Tanker Index fell 1.2%.
Dry Bulk Weekly – August 8, 2011
Baltic dry index rose 0.3% last week; Capesize Index was up 3.1%; Panamax Index fell 2.2%; Supramax Index was down 0.7%; Handysize Index fell 2.4%.
Iron ore and steel inventory not reported; prices stable. Thermal coal inventory and price stable.