Wall Street went up around 3% overnight. It’s good to see that the VIX or ‘fear index’ has got to around 30, which was at a scary 80 in October 2008. This measure actually shows how nervous investors are and can be a gauge that the worst of the share sell-off is behind us. 

Wall Street went up around 3% overnight. It’s good to see that the VIX or ‘fear index’ has got to around 30, which was at a scary 80 in October 2008. This measure actually shows how nervous investors are and can be a gauge that the worst of the share sell-off is behind us. 

CommSec reported yesterday: “The Chinese economy continued to show signs of improvement in the latest April data. Retail sales rose at a 14.8% annual rate but were even higher in real terms. And industrial production expanded at a 7.3% annual rate.” This is good news for the Aussie economy, as well as the global economy! 

Food company Heinz reported record sales and profit for fiscal 2009, with the Chairman, President and CEO William R. Johnson saying “Heinz brands around the world performed well, benefiting from the growing trend of at-home dining.”

The ‘green shoots’ are starting to show some leaves — and we’re getting more good news, said Bob Doll, vice chairman of BlackRock. “The market is saying that the worst is behind us,” Doll told CNBC. “We’re having cyclical improvements despite our secular problems.” He expects to see the beginnings of a “slow economic recovery” […]

US pending home sales rose by an amount which was a seven and a half- year high and locally Craig James of CommSec made this comment yesterday: “Australia’s economy may have grown rather than contracted in the March quarter. New figures show that Australia’s trade sector (exports less imports) contributed 2.2 percentage points to overall […]

 The March quarter GDP figure of 0.4% is a ripper and while it’s a weak number, it shows we are a stand out economy and that unemployment predictions of 9% are in all likelihood wrong! Craig James of CommSec thinks unemployment will peak before 7% and that’s a lot better than 9%.

Goldman Sachs provided an improving jobs picture for the US and reconfirmed a second-half economic recovery for the USA. 

The latest jobs report showed that the pace of cutbacks is falling and both March and April’s high readings were revised down. These are more signs of recovery for the US economy. 

Craig James from CommSec said, “Business confidence rose by a substantial 11.6 points in May to a reading of minus 2.2. Apart from the rebound after the September 11 2001 terrorist attack, it was the biggest monthly improvement in confidence on record.” 

The June consumer sentiment index rose by 12.7% – the biggest monthly surge in 22 years. The index is now at 17 month highs. 

Employment fell by 1,700 in May. Employment has fallen only six times in the last 23 months - reflecting the fundamental strength of the labour market. The unemployment rate rose from 5.4% to 5.7% in May, but a lot of this has come from a rising participation rate — that’s more people looking for jobs.