After a disastrous start of the week, global markets pushed back and corrected upwards yesterday and during to night’s Asian trading. Dow Jones added 0,70 % and the technology exchange, Nasdaq, increased 0,84 %. Alcoa, the aluminum producer, was the big winner up 6,7 % and set the tone for first positive day in the markets in 5 days. Also big banks as J. P.Morgan and the technology company Cisco, posted healthy gains. The positive US-trend continued in Asia where Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite both were up 0,4 % as the Asian composite stock exchange.

Australia surprised and delivered positive employment news. The increase in employment figures were seven times higher than expected. This boosted the Australian dollar which gained 0,5 % against USD. The USD is also weakened vs. EURO at 1.3135. Bank of Japan has tried to talk the Yen down and is flat vs. USD in the morning trading at 80,90. Oil prices are stabilizing for the second day with Brent steady around 120 USD barrel. Copper is slightly up, and gold continues to trade in a range between 1655 and 1662.

The last report from the US Federal Reserve (FED) confirms that US-economy in the period from mid February to end of March continued to rise modestly. An increase in electricity and gasoline prices is seen as reason for concern. On the positive side the car sales have picked up and there is increased demand for skilled labor in sectors of the economy.

The debt crisis in the Euro zone continues to attract global attention. A positive debt auction in Italy led to a somewhat better short term sentiment, but the overall picture is gloomy. A recent report shows that the capitalization of Apple is now bigger than the combined value of Spain, Portugal and Greece. Greece yesterday announced new elections for May 6th. The polls indicate big gains for the extreme right and far left parties. The government parties, PASOK and New Democracy are probably ending up as the big losers.