ECONOMY & MARKETS

Gold prices shot up to a new record of $1,512.50 an ounce in New York late on Friday, posting a record weekly gain and maintaining a six-week winning streak. What the gold rally means to the dollar and the American people is obvious from the rush pawn shops see across the United States.

The Japanese yen and gold may be in trouble as countries around the world set for budget austerity and rate hikes in 2011.

In recent weeks, global central banks have accelerated their pace of diversification out of the US dollar. One of the main beneficiaries has been the Australian dollar, which has surged in the face of bearish developments.

The euro has decoupled from the euro zone peripheral debt crisis in 2011.

The US dollar is in a new phase of depreciation, said Douglas Borthwick of Connecticut-based Faros Trading.

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) touched a new life-time high of $54.98 on Thursday. The company's first quarter revenue exceeded Street view boosted by growth in China, which helped offset weakness in its U.S. operations.

U.S. stocks advanced on Thursday as robust earnings from Apple, Morgan Stanley and General Electric lifted the market, but weaker-than- expected reports on jobless claims and Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index kept gains in check.

The top after-market NYSE losers on Thursday are: General Growth Properties, AutoNation, Oceaneering International, Hyatt Hotels, ITT Educational Services, OMNOVA Solutions, Monster Worldwide, U.S. Gold Corp and Timberland Co.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Thursday are: International Game Technology, Noah Education Holdings, Precision Drilling, General Steel Holdings, Amdocs, Plantronics, Standard Pacific, Ship Finance International, Georgia Gulf Corp and Tenet Healthcare Corp.

Asian stock markets ended slightly lower in holiday-hit trading on Friday. Many markets including Australia, Hong Kong Jakarta, Singapore, Manila and India were closed for public holidays.

Shares of Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) touched a new 2-year high of $40.45 on Thursday. The company's first quarter earnings and revenue exceeded Street view as its casinos saw a growth in business, and it raised outlook for the year.

Shares of Select Comfort Corp. (NASDAQ: SCSS) touched a new 2-year high of $17.50 on Thursday, as its first quarter earnings and revenue exceeded Street view.

Shares of TradeStation Group Inc. (NASDAQ: TRAD) touched a new 2-year high of $9.70 on Thursday. Japanese online brokerage Monex Group said Wednesday it agreed to acquire U.S. peer TradeStation for about $411 million to gain a foothold in the world's largest equities market.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Polycom, Mentor Graphics, ZST Digital Networks, EZCORP, and Stein Mart. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Radio One, Asia Entertainment & Resources, Pool Corp., Penn National Gaming, Universal Display, Cymer, and Rambus.

The Japanese government on Friday approved a $48.5 billion emergency budget for disaster relief but refrained from raising fresh debt.

US Treasuries are called the “risk-free assets” of the financial world. However, the moniker of “risk-free asset” may actually belong to another country.

To get exposure, most investors immediately considered equities, which have been historically correlated with economic growth. However, an even better option may be the forex carry trade.

U.S. stocks advanced on Thursday as robust earnings from Apple, Morgan Stanley and General Electric lifted the market, but weaker-than- expected reports on jobless claims and Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index kept gains in check.

Silver Prices extended their Dollar gains to 7.7% for this week alone, also reaching new multi-decade and all-time highs vs. the world's other major currencies.

After ignoring the worsening euro zone peripheral debt crisis for the last month, participants in the currencies market may finally be paying attention to it.

U.S. stocks advanced in early trade on Thursday as robust earnings from Apple, Morgan Stanley and General Electric offset higher-than-forecast jobless claims data.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Thursday are: F5 Networks, UnitedHealth Group, Charles Schwab, SLM Corp, Yum Brands, Nokia Corp, Noble Corp, Chipotle Mexican, Ingersoll-Rand and Halliburton.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: TradeStation Group, Biogen Idec, Select Comfort, Datalink, Entegris, Apple, and Qualcomm. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: ZST Digital Networks, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Sina, Lam Research, and Vodafone Group.

US stocks rallied on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing near three-year highs, as upbeat earnings from major technology companies’ boosted sentiment for corporate-profit trends.

Jefferies & Co. said Nokia Corp.'s (NYSE: NOK) results threw out no worse news than it had expected but it maintained underperform thesis nonetheless.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the United States will reaccelerate, and reach 3.5–4 percent in the second half of this year, IHS Global Insight said in its April World Flash report.

US stocks rallied on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing near three-year highs, as upbeat earnings from major technology companies’ boosted sentiment for corporate-profit trends.

Shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) touched a new life-time high of $56.27 on Wednesday. The company said it will commit to investing $37 million in products and services to promote high-growth entrepreneurship across the country in partnership with President Barack Obama’s Startup America campaign.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Select Comfort, Plexus, F5 Networks, Datalink, TradeStation Group, Qualcomm, and Apple. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Lam Research, Sina, Gilead Sciences, Amgen, and Cheesecake Factory.