- In a surprisingly strong employment report for August, the German Labour Office said the number of persons unemployed in Germany declined by 40,000 despite a deepening economic crisis in the region. The consensus had been for a decline of 10,000 jobs in August after July's 20,000 contraction. The unemployment rate also dropped to 7.6% despite expectations of no change to July's 7.8% rate.

- According to a report from the German Federal Statistics Office on Thursday, the number of unemployed persons in July was 3.16 million compared to 3.18 million in June, translating into a 7.3% unemployment rate. The result was consistent with the consensus forecast. June's 7.3% unemployment rate was revised up to a 7.4% rate.

- Money supply growth in the euro zone declined in July, but not as much as economists had been expecting, according to a report released by the European Central Bank on Thursday which saw a 9.3% annual growth rate in M3 money supply compared to June's 9.5% rate of expansion. An expected tightening of credit conditions had led economists to project a decline to a 9.0% annual growth rate in M3. The annual three-month average for M3 fell to a 9.6% growth rate from 9.9% in June, despite forecasts for a 9.5% level.

- The Confederation of British Industry's distributive trades report showed the retail sales index deteriorated to a reading of -46 in August compared to July's -36 level, but retailers had been expecting a score of -7 for the month. The CBI survey also projected a sales score of -42 for September.

- According to the Nationwide Building Society on Thursday, house prices in the UK continued their steady downward trend in August, falling 10.5% compared to twelve months ago. The consensus forecast had been for a 9.6% annual decline in August after house prices in July declined 8.1% versus one year ago. In month-over-month terms, the decline was of 1.9%, against the consensus for a 1.5% contraction and July's 1.7% decline was revised up to a 1.5% fall.

- With Tropical Storm Gustav expected to gain additional strength and hit the Gulf of Mexico, oil companies have begun evacuating personal in anticipation of what could be one of the strongest storms to strike the region since 2005. Royal Dutch Shell PLC said it has evacuated 400 workers from offshore platforms, while BP PLC also reported plans to begin removing personnel. Louisiana has called a state of emergency and mobilized the National Guard in anticipation of the storm's impact.

- According to a report from Nikkei News on Thursday, Japanese, U.S. and European Officials collaborated on a rescue plan for the U.S. dollar in mid-March, in the midst of the collapse of Bear Stearns. The plan was set to be enacted between March 15 and 16 during which officials agreed to buy U.S. dollars and aggressively sell yen and euros. Given that a freefall in the USD never materialized during the period, the plan was never adopted, reports Nikkei News.

- Belgian consumer prices eased in August, according to a report from the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Thursday, which said annual CPI moved up 5.39% compared to July's record 5.91% inflation rate. In month-over-month terms, CPI declined 0.61% compared to the previous month's 0.53% gain.

- A preliminary look at the harmonized index of consumer prices in Spanish suggests inflation fell to 4.9% in August compared to June's 5.3% level, the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica said on Thursday. The consensus had expected a more modest decline to 5.2%.

- According to a report from Statistics Sweden on Thursday, Swedish retail sales suffered in July, contracting 0.5% compared to the previous month. While the result was in line with expectations, retail sales for June rose a revised 1.7% month-over-month. Prior to revisions, the gain was of 1.8%. Meanwhile, annual retail sales advanced 1.3%, just a touch below the expected 1.4% increase for July, and June's 3.3% increase was revised down to a 3.0% gain.

- Speaking at a meeting of business officials in Kanazawa, Japan, Bank of Japan Board member Miyako Suda said that should the downside risks to growth diminish, an early rate hike would give the central bank room to maneuver and address the inflation problems in the region. The Bank of Japan is watching both upside and downside risks to the economy, Suda said. However, he added that given the interrelation between growth and inflation, the BOJ should put equal weight on both.

- The foreign purchase of Japanese stocks fell ¥214.5 billion in the week ending Aug. 22 after rising ¥43.9 billion in the previous week. Buying of bonds rose ¥557.9 billion following the previous week's ¥504.6 billion buy-up. Meanwhile, the Japanese sold ¥82.8 billion in foreign stocks following the ¥53.4 billion sold in the prior week. The Japanese also sold ¥1419.6 billion in foreign bonds following the previous week's ¥621.3 billion buy-up.

- Total private capital expenditures in Australia advanced 5.7% compared to the first three months of 2008, according to a report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday. The result was better than the consensus 2.7% growth projection. Meanwhile, Q1's 2.5% quarterly contraction was revised to a 1.0% rate of expansion.

- The Australian Conference Board announced its leading index decreased by 0.5% for the month of June, down from May's 0.1% decline. This is the fifth decrease in the leading index since the beginning of the year. For the second consecutive month, the coincident index was unchanged for the month of June, in line with May's decrease of 0.1%.

- In an effort to continue fighting inflationary pressures in the region, the Central Bank of the Philippines hiked its benchmark interest rate for the third consecutive month on Thursday morning, this time by 25 basis points, brining the rate to 6.00%. Although the move was expected by a majority of economists, some had argued for a 50bp rate hike, such as the one delivered at the previous monetary policy decision.

- In a dramatic gesture in Denver on Wednesday night, Senator Hillary Clinton announced her state of New York was voting for Obama as the democratic presidential nominee.

JP Foreign Buying Japan Bonds 22-Aug +¥558.9B vs. Prior: +¥504.6B

JP Foreign Buying Japan Stocks 22-Aug -¥214.5B vs. Revised: +¥43.9B Prior: +¥43.8B

JP Japan Buying Foreign Stocks 22-Aug -¥82.8B vs. Prior: -¥53.4B

JP Japan Buying Foreign Bonds 22-Aug -¥1419.6B vs. Revised: +¥621.3B Prior: +¥620.1B

AU Conference Board Leading Index June -0.5% vs. Prior: -0.1%

AU Private Capital Expenditure Q2 +5.7% vs. Exp: +2.0% Revised: +1.0% Prior: -2.5%

JP BOJ Board Member Suda to Speak in Kanazawa, Japan

DE ILO Unemployment Rate July 7.3% vs. Exp: 7.3% Revised: 7.4% Prior: 7.3%

GB Nationwide House prices (M/M) (SA) August -1.9% vs. Exp: -1.5% Revised: -1.5% Prior: -1.7%

GB Nationwide House prices (Y/Y) (NSA) August -10.5% vs. Exp: -9.6% Prior: -8.1%

DE Unemployment Change August -40K vs. Exp: -10K Prior: -20K

DE Unemployment Rate (SA) August 7.3% vs. Exp: 7.8% Prior: 7.8%

IT PPI (M/M) July +0.5% vs. Exp: +0.5% Prior: +0.8%

IT PPI (Y/Y) July +8.3% Exp: +8.4% Prior: +8.2%

EU Euro-Zone M3 (Y/Y) (SA) July +9.3% vs. Exp: +9.0% Prior: +9.5%

EU Euro-Zone M3 3 Month Average (SA) July +9.6% vs. Exp: +9.5% Revised: +10.0% Prior: +9.9%

GB U.K. CBI August Distributive Trades Index at -46% Level

At 6:15 a.m. EDT:

The euro was up 0.35 cents to 1.4761 USD.

The U.S. dollar was up 0.12 cents to 1.0474 Canadian Dollars.

The U.S. dollar was down 24.60 cents to 109.25 Yen.

The pound sterling was down 0.33 cents to 1.8325 USD.

The Australian dollar was up 0.71 cents to 0.8660 USD.

The U.S. dollar index was down 19.20 points to 76.86.

The U.S. ten-year note was up 15.6 ticks to 116.83 with yields up 3.0 bps to 3.79%.

The German ten-year bund was up 7.0 ticks to 114.18 with yields down 0.3 bps to 4.17%.

The British ten-year gilt was up 11.0 ticks to 109.49 with yields down 2.9 bps to 4.48%.

The Australian ten-year bond was down 1.0 ticks to 94.26 with yields up 4.7 bps to 5.76%.

The Japanese ten-year government bond was down 4.0 ticks to 138.21 with yields down 1.5 bps to 1.44%.

The Eurostoxx was trading up 3.19 points to 2872.01.

The FTSE 100 was trading up 12.60 points to 5540.70.

The Dax was trading down 13.19 points to 6307.84.

The Nikkei closed up 15.29 points to 12768.25.

The Australian ASX closed up 55.30 points to 5066.50.

The Hang Seng closed down 492.43 points to 20972.29.

The Shanghai Composite closed up 8.00 points to 2350.14.

Dow Jones Futures were down 2.00 points to 11495.00.

S&P 500 Futures were down 0.50 points to 1281.50.

WTI Crude oil is up $0.85 to $119.00.

By Erik Kevin Franco, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it with contributions from Megan Ainscow, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , edited by Nancy Girgis, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

CEP Newswires - CEP News © 2008. All Rights Reserved. www.economicnews.ca

The Copying, Broadcast, Republication or Redistribution of CEP News Content is Expressly Prohibited Without the Prior Written Consent of CEP News.

A copy of CEP News disclaimer can be found at http://www.economicnews.ca/cepnews/wire/disclaimer.