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Unemployment in the US and Europe continue to rise to levels not seen for a decade or more.

The US Labor Department reported that June unemployed jumped by 467,000, far more than the 325,000- 363,000 range predicted in pre release surveys.

It was the worst loss for the past four months and was seen as a sign that the US economy is not getting better, as some would have us believe, but it probably isn't getting worse.

It was a worrying development because it stopped four months of easing jobless numbers that had gotten some analysts wondering if the economy was travelling a bit better than expected.

Job losses were widespread, another worrying sign.

Next week the US second quarter profit reporting season starts with Alcoa popping up Wednesday night, our time.

While the actual figures will be important, what will be more important will be if more companies start giving guidance about the third and fourth quarters and into 2010.

The phrase 'limited visibility' has never been heard so much as in the past year and a half in the US.

More and more companies have stopped talking about the outlook and confined themselves to generalities or to how tough it has been.

Many have been concentrating on surviving the present, hoping that the future will take care of itself.

This is the latest report "Finexo Market Review" contributed by the experts at Forex WebTrader. For more up-to-date information on what is happening in the FOREX World Today.

** YoY = Year over Year

                                                                                          ** MoM = Month over Month

USD.
 
Thursday, the US Dollar was mixed on extremely heavy volume after a report showing a larger-than-expected drop in US non-farm payrolls in June renewed concerns about the speed at which the economic recovery is happening. The data showed that 467,000 people lost their jobs in June, roughly 100,000 more than analysts had expected. The data sent stock markets falling and helped the Dollar rise against the Euro but fall against the Yen.
 
At 11:15PM GMT, the Dollar was up 1% to the Euro to 1.3999, down 1.2% to the Yen to 95.85, up .5% to the British Poiund to 1.6402, up 1.04% to the Canadian Dollar to 1.1615, up 1.75% to the Australian Dollar to .7941, up .15% to the Kiwi to .6297 and up .8% to the Swiss Franc to 1.0839.
 
 EUR.

Demand for the Euro seemed to fall Thursday as European Central Bank President, Jean-Claude Trichet remarked at the ECB policy meeting that economic activity would likely remain low for the remainder of the year. After leaving interest rates unchanged, the Trichet rocked the Euro’s faithful investors by talking about economic stabilization in 2010 and recovery after that. The comments came as a surprise because it has been widely expected that recovery would have started at the end of this year and growth would fill 2010.
 
As of 11:30PM GMT, the Euro was down 1.75% to the Japanese Yen to 134.24, down .55 to the British Pound to .8537, even against the Canadian Dollar to 1.6259, up ¾ of a percent to the Aussie to 1.7621 and down .2% to the Swiss Franc to 1.5183.
 

A list of companies to record substantial increase in shareholdings:

* M&L Trust increased its interest in CMI Ltd on June 29 from 10.8 million (32pc) to 11.3 million shares (33.4pc).

* Westpac Banking Corporation increased its interest in Macquarie Leisure Trust Group on June 29 from 16.1 million (6.7pc) to 20.2 million stapled securities (8.4pc).

* Eye Investment Fund Ltd became a substantial holder in Orocobre Ltd on July 1 with 3.5 million shares (5.3pc).

* Flexi Plan Management Pty Ltd increased its interest in U308 Ltd on June 23 from 6.3 million (7.5pc) to 8.7 million shares (8.3pc).

* Legend International Holdings Inc increased its interest in North Australian Diamonds Ltd on July 1 from 762.9 million (38.5pc) to 784.1 million shares (39.6pc).

So you have decided to invest in some Penny Dreadful Stocks?  So before you jump in  head first and start  investing your hard-earned capital into penny stocks, the first important that you have to do is to research the penny stocks you want to invest in before you commit any of your capital.

Now  to find your profitable penny stocks You will now need to locate some penny stock leads.  These leads are just the names of the penny stocks that you are contemplating investing in.

Of course there are numerous ways to locate these leads. You could for example try searching the internet. A good start could be blogs, forums and chatrooms which abound on the internet.You could also  join a penny stock mailing list or just keeping an eye out on the news reports  that you receive in your daily emails.

Your ultimate aim is to build a list of around 10 to 20 quality leads that are suitable for you to invest in.

Understanding Where We Are In The Property Market

The total value of all residential properties is one of the best indicators to represent the wealth of a nation.  When a country is producing more than what it is consuming, the surplus is called accumulated wealth, it works just like an average family, hence a country’s increased wealth in theory will show up in the increase of residential property prices.

If a country is consuming more than what is producing, the wealth of this country will decrease, just like a family would, we should see residential property prices falling in those countries over the long term, but this is apparently not so, if you look at countries such as US, UK & Australia, you still see residential property prices going up over the last few decades.

This phenomenon is mainly due to the increase of total money available in those countries is much faster than the decrease of the total wealth, so we see our residential property prices artificially increase within those countries in their own currency.

Take Australia as an example, the increase of money available to Australians comes from the increase of our own money supply and the increase of foreign debt.  While our real wealth as a nation has not gone up in real term over the last few decades, our property prices measured by Australian Dollars continue to go up on paper value.

Almost a year ago (actually a week tomorrow) world oil prices reached what would turn out to be their peak: $US147.47 a barrel in New York for the key marker crude traded in America, West Texas Intermediate.

According to forecasters at the time, oil was on the way to $US200 a barrel by the end of the year.

Prices steadied, and then turned lower, then plunged as the gathering recession, credit crunch and then the crisis triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September flattened everything and gave the world its first synchronous slump in 80 years.

After bottoming out in December-January at just over $US30 a barrel, oil prices have climbed, driven by the weakening of the US dollar, expectations of a recovery in various economies, and speculation as traders fed by cheap money in the US and Europe, have made hay and easy profits.

Prices finished around $US71 a barrel in New York overnight.

Over the last twenty-odd years there have been a few so we should all have got used to the noise by now.

The warning signs are unmistakable. Lots of frenzy and excitement. Lots of claims that the market can never fall because of, well any number of reasons. Most of them emotional rather than logical.

Heck, your editor even fell for it. We thought the ‘China effect’ would provide some cushion for the resources market over the last year. We were wrong. The transition from the US economy dominating consumer spending to Asia taking over clearly isn’t a seamless transition.

Despite that, if it was possible to buy or sell shares in an entire economy, right now we’d be ’short’ USA and ‘long’ China.

And Australia? That’s much harder to work out. For the entire economy we’d have to say it’s no better than neutral.

And it gets that rating for one reason only – China.

Another monthly trade deficit with those lazy, hazy days of summer and the big trade surpluses banished by the downturn in iron ore and coal prices, while the slump in imports shows the slowdown is still curbing demand, especially for capital goods.

In fact the impact of the global slump on resource projects and other business investment was again seen in the noticeable fall in the value of capital goods in the month, off 14% or more than half a billion dollars in May.

The import figures though tell us that the economy has gone to sleep, enlivened only by the housing sector and the stimulus boost to some sections of retailing (imports of household electricals rose 6% or $29 million in the month, according to the ABS).

The imports fit with the very subdued business credit figures from the Reserve Bank earlier in the week which also showed a fall in May.

In fact, the early information flow from May is a bit like April, except housing approvals were down a touch and retail sales a bit stronger. Private credit was weaker, next week we will find that employment rose and overall it’s a bit more of the same.

 S&P 500 Update July 1st

Today I’m going to take another look at the S&P 500 Index. It appears that some of the rose coloring on traders’ glasses is beginning to wear thin. Many more traders now perceive this as a two way trading market as opposed to a one way street we witnessed in March and April.

I am going to be analyzing a daily S&P index chart and making some observations that I think potentially could work out if certain elements fall into place.

At the present time our “Trade Triangle” technology is indicating a neutral stance in this market. With the -55 reading our “Trade Triangles” are indicating a trading range which could possibly be an early sign of a reversal.

You can watch this video with my compliments and there is no registration requirements. I would love to get your feedback about this video on our blog.

Click Here to watch today's great video.

All the best,

Adam Hewison
President, INO.com
Co-creator, MarketClub