The global economy have taken a wrong turn

The global economy have taken a wrong turn in the last two months with data out of China, Europe, and US all pointing to the same slowdown. Construction spending in the US dropped 1.1% and 0.8% in Feb and Jan(revised from down 0.1%). The Euro zone unemployment rose to highest in more than a decade and manufacturing contracted for an 8^th month. Austerity plans will hurt the economies of Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy further as GDP will contract further. High unemployment rates will bring civil and political uncertainty and disrupt economies and financial markets. The China PMI jumped to an 11 month high of 53.1 in March but a separate HSBC PMI showed contraction in March of 48.3 from a Feb figure of 49.6. The data out of China have been mixed but economists all agree that more government intervention is coming in the near future. Commodities are mostly higher this morning on fresh buying to start the second quarter. The rise in precious metals can be interpreted as a sign that traders believe QE3, China lowering interest rates and bank reserve requirements, and/or ECB lowering rates and continuing growth of the European financial stability facility in the coming quarter. We believe that the precious metals will move higher until the Fed meeting at the end of the month. The focus will continue to be on Europe and China in the coming weeks.

Metals	Last	%Change	Low	High
Au-Jun	1684.1	0.73%	1664.4	1685.4
Pt-Jul	1658	0.83%	1640.5	1658.2
Pd-Jun	662.1	1.33%	651.50	666.10
Ag-May	33.200	2.20%	32.340	33.250
London	AM	PM	Minor	PGMs
Au	1664	1677.5	Rh	1400
Pt	1636	1641	Ru	120
Pd	656	656	Ir	1100
Ag	32.42	DJI	13272.81	60.77
Currencies
	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP
USD	0	1.3325	0.012171	1.6021
EUR	0.7506	0	0.91343	1.2024
JPY	82.16	109.48	0	131.631
GBP	0.6242	0.83171	0.7597	0
Crude Brent	124.43	Comex Copper	392.3
Crude WTI	104.25	Nat Gas	2.101
*THESE PRICES ARE FOR INDICATION ONLY CALL FOR QUOTES