China’s exports advanced at a 28% pace in May, despite growing economic turbulence in the United States and Europe, underscoring yet again that the Asian giant doesn’t need Western markets to flourish.

It was the usual doom and gloom when I opened the paper this morning. The Bank of England predicts a protracted slowdown. It’s revised its growth forecast for next year to 1.5%, down from a 2009 forecast of 2.8% made last year.

Deere’s Bountiful Harvest; Dupont Teams Up with Danisco; Miller Takes Over Grolsch Distribution; China Quake May Pause Interest Rate Hike; Aluminum Corp. of China May Nab BHP Stake; Whole Food Drops on Disappointing Sales Gain; Food Costs Sink Jack in the Box; Freddie Mac Gets Creative with the Books.

It seems like just another Monday. But the world always changes a little over the weekend. And this weekend, we reckon it changed a lot. The Opes story dominates the headlines. But the collapse of margin lending and leverage probably isn’t the biggest story this week. It’s the increase in food and energy prices we have our eye on this week.