(As written for My Paper on 10 April 2012. Click here to enlarge)

All the excitement in the previous week came to a screeching halt when the US Labour Department released the hotly watched Non Farm Payrolls figures on Friday evening.

The 120,000 jobs added in March were the lowest in five months, underscoring Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s concern that recent gains may not be sustained without a pickup in growth.

The figure was all the more soberising considering that the average economist forecast in a Bloomberg survey was 205,000.

The silver lining in the gloomy numbers was the unemployment figures. This came in at 8.2%, down from 8.3% the month prior. The figure was the lowest since January 2009.

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(As written for My Paper on 3 April 2012. Click here to enlarge)

China reported positive figures over the weekend, sending risk currencies higher.

The Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by China’s logistics federation and the National Bureau of Statistics, rose to a one-year high of 53.1 in March from 51 in February.

As Australia’s largest trading partner, China’s news caused AUD/USD to spike up a hundred pips from Friday’s closing price.

Other risk assets followed suit.

Oil rose as much as 0.5% to hit $103.58 per barrel yesterday afternoon.

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(As written for My Paper on 27 March 2012. Click here to enlarge)

This week, Eurozone finance ministers will gather in Copenhagen for talks. The main agenda will centre upon strengthening of the region’s financial firewall.

The goal is to establish a massive bailout fund that could combine the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the system designed to replace it, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

The EFSF, which is due to expire next year, has a current total of 440 billion Euros.

It has since disbursed 192 billion Euros in three separate bailouts to Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Under the current rules, the unused funds would be passed on to the ESM. The ESM itself would have a fresh war-chest of 500 billion Euros available for future use.

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(As written for My Paper on 20 March 2012. Click here to enlarge)

With the Greek story out of the way, all eyes are now focused on the recovery of the US economy.

Over the last couple of months, the US has reported consistent improvements in key economic reports such as non-farm payrolls and retail sales.

For the month of February, US employers added 227,000 jobs while retail sales rose by 1.1%. The jobless rate also remained at a healthy three-year low.

These stellar numbers have damped expectations for more QE from the Federal Reserve – a stimulus that might otherwise debase the greenback.

According to the median forecast of 91 economists in a Bloomberg News survey, US GDP is expected to rise 2.2% this year, while other developed nations are slated to increase by only 1.2%.

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