We are on track to finish the yr with the trends that have been in place 3/4 of ’09, strong stocks and corporate debt, weak US$ and lower US treasuries. The credit markets led the way down in ’08 in terms of equity performance, up in ’09 and I believe will again dictate the direction in ’10, particularly the sovereign side, which now includes half of the entire mortgage debt in the US. The Yuan partially reversed yesterday’s sharp move up after Chinese officials said economic policy will remain on track. Helping to send the US$ index to a 2 week low is a better than expected home price gain in the UK which is sending the pound higher by almost 1%. Initial Jobless Claims are expected to total 460k and will be impacted by the difficulty in seasonally adjusting data this time of the yr. If the economy continues to improve, ’10 will see job growth but will it be enough to lower the unemployment rate and will the longer term unemployed find work?
