Stocks and Dollars

Employment surged by 58,200 in April 2012 with the goods-producing sector adding 70,000 positions and the service sector cutting 11,800. The split between the public and private sectors showed that public-sector employment fell by 19,200 while private employment rose by 85,800 in the month. The number of self-employed edged down

Global market sentiment took another dip this week as fears over a possible Greek exit from the eurozone hit the markets following the Greek elections.

Tensions in the Spanish banking system are back in focus. The Spanish government announced it would take measures to stabilise the Spanish banking sector, and the

Producer prices fell 0.2% in April 2012 following an unchanged reading in March and a 0.4% gain in February. The drop in April was entirely accounted for by a 1.4% drop in energy prices that built further on a 1.0% decline in March. As was the case in March, falling

The European Commission supported volatility to extend in the market amid the current deteriorating sentiment in the market, where the Commission revised growth forecast lower for the euro-area region adding concerns the current austerity-linked solution is weighing sharply on growth, forcing more pressures on lawmakers to find another way around

This is the fifth day without a firm government in place for Greece; if a coalition is not found soon then we could be heading back to the polls, which open up the possibility of a prolonged period of Greek political instability. There was some hope this morning of the

In light of the current political turmoil in Greece, the EUR has gradually slipped to a three-month low at 1.2905 after a period of trading in a highly volatile range. The move coincides with the election on May 6th of anti-austerity Greek fringe parties, instead of the mainstream PASOK or

Weaker Far East data contributed to continued risk aversion sentiment. Both China and India industrial production data came in below expectations. The AUD was approaching parity as a result was looking at its first weekly close sub 100-week moving avg since summer 2009.

U.K. producer prices for the month of April released today reignited concerns regarding inflation pressure as it showed that factory-output prices surged above expectations. Annual PPI output reading exceeded estimates of 2.9 by coming in at 3.3% from a revised of 3.7%. The month on month reading rose to