7th 2014.

Euro should continue to decline on inaction of the ECB

Gold expected to give back short term gains And US data kicks off with retail sales on

Monday Let's take a quick look at what happened in

the global markets last week and what we need to be aware of for the upcoming week.

Markets ended the week deep in the red. At the end of the day the Dow was down 160 points

The Nasdaq closed down 2.6%. And the S&P 500 ended the day down 1.25%.

Employers added 192thousand jobs last month, while unemployment remained at 6.7%. Analysts

expected 200thousand jobs to be created and unemployment to drop to 6.6%. January's non-farm

payrolls report was revised up to 144thousand from 129thousand.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department is investigating whether high-frequency

trading violates insider trading laws. This comes as both the FBI and the Securities and

Exchange Commission confirmed this week that each has ongoing investigations into high-frequency

trading. In other news, ISM reported that the manufacturing

sector in the U.S. accelerated slightly in March. The ISM manufacturing index rose from

53.2 to 53.7 in March. Meanwhile, ISM reported that its U.S. non-manufacturing gauge for

March rebounded from 51.6 to 53.1. Levels above 50 represent expansion, while levels

below 50 represent contraction. Elsewhere, the ECB kept its benchmark overnight

interest rate steady at a record-low 0.25 percent, as was widely expected. Speaking

to journalists after the policy decision, ECB President Mario Draghi said the central

bank does not exclude further monetary easing. He also said that ECB officials were unanimous

on using unconventional policy tools if necessary - including quantitative easing.

The ECB has kept monetary policy extremely accommodative amid low levels of inflation

and high levels of unemployment. The Chinese government released its official

manufacturing PMI for March. The index edged up from 50.2 in February to 50.3, close to

expectations. At the same time, HSBC's manufacturing gauge for China - which measures smaller firms

in the country - edged down from 48.1 to 48, also close to expectations. Levels above 50

represent expansion, while levels below 50 represent contraction.

European markets finished higher on Friday, likely fueled by the European Central Bank's

pledge yesterday to do some sort of quantitative easing, if necessary. Asian markets ended

the week mixed. China's benchmark Shanghai Composite rose 0.7%, while stocks in Singapore

dropped 0.3%. The Nikkei was little changed.

In the foreign exchange market the dollar rose to a fresh one-month high against the

euro Friday as currency traders took the latest U.S. employment reading as confirmation of

an improving economy. The euro slid 0.1% against the dollar, to $1.37-05. The common currency

had reached $1.36-72 in intraday trade, its lowest level since Feb. 27th. U.S. job creation

in March was largely in line with estimates, suggesting that the Federal Reserve is likely

to stay the course in trimming bond purchases every month, moves that have been supporting

the dollar. The euro has been weakening against the dollar amid expectations that the European

Central Bank would take measures to stoke growth in the euro zone. The ECB on Thursday

opened the door to easing measures such as a cut in interest rates or a bond-buying program

to stimulate the economy.

Moving to the commodities market gold clawed back this week as bargain hunters entered

the market following recent losses, the recent 112 dollar decline in prices was a short-term

reaction to the Fed's hawkish outlook for interest rates laid out in its last meeting

on March 19th. However, gold is not at risk of falling into a major downtrend or hitting

new lows below the cycle low at $11-80. Oil prices slumped this week amid hopes that

some of Libya's shuttered production could come back online. Earlier in the week, Brent

fell to a five-month low below $104, but prices rebounded after rebel sources claimed there

was no compromise with the government and that the oil ports would not be reopening.

This is Amy Anderson from OptionRally signing off. Watch for some exciting changes to Optionrally

TV coming later this month and of course im waiting for your like below if you enjoyed

todays Market Watch. Have a great week.