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Biggest % gainers: GBP/USD up 1.05%, EUR/USD, NZD/USD, AUD/USD on USD weakness due to horrible NFP numbers (which came in at -85.000 and with Unemployment holding at 10%).

Biggest % losers: USD/JPY down 1.18%, AUD/JPY, EUR/JPY, CHF/JPY on mild JPY strength.

Gold up $10 after the bad NFP numbers to $1,136
Oil $ 82.44

Seems that regulators & the Fed are preparing banks for future rate hikes, even now: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...1JEwzAWs&pos=7

CAD Employment Change worse at -2.6k vs. +20.2k expected.

CAD Unemployment rate held steady as expected at 8.5%.

USD Non-Farm Employment Change -85k much worse than ...

EUR/USD

The dollar strengthened to near 1.4350 in Europe on Thursday with a weak German retail sales report unsettling the Euro as there was a further 1.1% decline which reinforced expectations of a weak outlook for the Euro-zone economy.

There were further warnings over currencies from French officials, pledging that currency imbalances would be a major topic during 2010. There were also in effect further protests against Euro strength which will also tend to unsettle the currency. Officials are concerned that that the Euro would be caught between competitive devaluations for the dollar and yen and be pushed to an artificially strong position which would undermine exports.

The US jobless claims ...

We’ve paid some attention lately to the fact that the US dollar is reacting positively to fundamentals, i.e. negative data is negative for the buck, positive data is positive for the buck. That’s a far cry from their tightly negative correlation at the height of risk-appetite-dominated markets.

Over the years, especially in the bubble era, a common question to ask is: Do the fundamentals matter?

Well, right now I can point to two instances where current, EXISTING fundamentals don’t seem to matter. First, let’s look at a chart sent to us earlier in the week from a friend of ours (see charts below).

What this shows is a dramatic change in correlation between the price of copper and copper ...

Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12 months): 2.2%

The gold market's been a money maker for lots of people: bullion holders, owners of gold grantor trusts and mining stocks, and yes, even some people turning in their scrap gold to refiners. Oddly, the stockholders of one such refiner have been losing lately.

Last May, Money4Gold Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: MFGD)—'til then a development company—completed its acquisition of MGE Enterprises Corp., a company doing business under the name "MyGoldEnvelope.com."

MyGoldEnvelope, like many other firms of its type, makes heavy use of television to solicit owners of jewelry and scrap gold to sell their metal for its melt value. In the eight months since ...