The IMF gave Greece a high five on the “strong start” they’ve made in cutting their deficit and in reward for this “great progress” they will get the next tranche as scheduled in Sept. There is no surprise in the assessment but European stocks and the euro did lift when the comments came out. The next review will take place in Oct. Spain sold 3 yr notes at a yield 104 bps below the last one sold in June. June factory orders in Germany were stronger than expected as Germany continues to carry most of the load in Europe. Both the BoE and ECB left rates unch as expected. The Shanghai index closed down .7% in response to the story yesterday that the Chinese are getting tougher on bank stress tests. The CRB index will break out to the highest since Jan today led by another spike in grain prices driven by wheat just as we’re told by the ‘experts’ that deflation is upon us.
