Initial Jobless Claims and Continuing Claims were slightly higher than expected this morning thought not enough to cause any serious concern. The claims have remained under the 400k handle since December 1, 2011 and saw a the lowest levels since July 2008 on the last report. Yesterday, during the Fed press conference, Ben Bernanke mentioned that they were forecasting an unemployment rate of 5.2%- 6.0% by 2014. If this is the case, we will need to see a noticeable improvement in the jobless claims over the course of the next 2 years. The extension of low rates should help to keep credit cheap in the US in the foreseeable future, which should help provide a more stable platform for business to grow, hence offering more opportunities for employment.
On another note, we are certainly seeing the effects of the promised low rates in the precious metals market and energies market. I am sure in the near future if this “risk on” trade takes hold we will also see a considerable rally in the US equities market. With the EUR is once again above 1.31 against the USD, we are seeing gold and silver well above $1700 and $33.00 respectively. It looks as if the bullish trend has certainly resumed and it will be interesting to see if we can get the follow through over the next few months to help both metals make nominal highs.
| Metals | Last | %Change | Low | High |
| Au- Feb | 1721.1 | 1.25% | 1703 | 1731.5 |
| Pt-Apr | 1611.7 | 2.11% | 1579.1 | 1625 |
| Pd-Mar | 692 | -0.19% | 688.40 | 702.00 |
| Ag-Mar | 33.525 | 1.25% | 32.975 | 33.790 |
| London | AM | PM | Minor | PGMs |
| Au | 1713 | 1727 | Rh | 1425 |
| Pt | 1597 | 1615 | Ru | 110 |
| Pd | 696 | 698 | Ir | 1100 |
| Ag | 33.35 | DJI | 12769.9 | 12.94 |
| Currencies |
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| USD | EUR | JPY | GBP |
| USD | 0 | 1.3145 | 0.012914 | 1.5704 |
| EUR | 0.7607 | 0 | 0.98237 | 1.1946 |
| JPY | 77.44 | 101.79 | 0 | 121.605 |
| GBP | 0.6368 | 0.83706 | 0.8223 | 0 |
| *THESE PRICES ARE FOR INDICATION ONLY CALL FOR QUOTES |
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