Strong tech earnings and the continued erosion in the value of the global reserve currency have the S&P futures retesting its Feb 18 high of 1337.50. To highlight the influence of the US$ weakness to the move in stocks, in gold terms the S&P 500 is flat on the year, in euro terms its down 3.2% and in C$ and A$ it is up just .5%. Our game is played though in nominal terms and that’s the focus and saving grace, if you own hard assets in particular. Gasoline prices rose last night for the 30th straight day to $3.84 per gallon, just .27 from a record high. Yields have now gone parabolic in Greece, Ireland and Portugal but Spanish debt is seeing a bid as China reiterated their support in their contribution to investing in the country. Germany’s Apr IFO business confidence figure was about in line with consensus at 110.4 vs 111.1 in Mar. Brazil raised interest rates last night by 25 bps to 12%, the highest since Mar ’09 but was less than the expected hike of 50 bps.
