Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified yesterday before the House Budget Committee in Washington. Chairman Bernanke confessed that the Fed’s objective of 2% inflation may not be possible if unemployment in America continues to rise. On Wednesday, the ADP Non-Farm Employment Change numbers came in far below expectations. The Fed also reiterated that it plans to keep short term investments at almost zero until 2014. The GBP/USD is up 0.10% and trading at 1.5821.  The USD/CAD is down slightly by 0.03% at 0.9990.

Gold Heading Up
Gold is on the rise this morning in Asian trading amidst reports that the Greek debt restructuring is not going according to plan. Without agreement between the Greek government and private creditors, Greece faces a default on March 20. Gold is up this morning by 0.12% and valued at 1761.35. Silver is up as well, currently sitting at 34.235, an increase of 0.18%. Investor discontent with EU fiscal and monetary policy and the lack of solution regarding the Greek debt crisis has caused many to flee the uncertainty of the euro and embrace more trustworthy equity, especially precious metals. 

Real employment numbers to be released
After the disappointing employment estimated from the ADP numbers, the Non-Farm Employment Change and the Unemployment Rate will be released today at 1:30pm Eastern Standard Time. Also in the U.S., the ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI will be released. Outside of America, three other major reports will be released today. To the north in Canada, the Employment Change and the Unemployment Rate will be made available. The CAD has been level with the greenback recently and it will be interesting to see of this trend will continue after Canadian employment statistics are released. Elsewhere, the Services PMI will be released in the UK.

Recession coming to the UK?
Financial analysts are predicting that the UK will suffer from a recession in 2012. This distressing prediction comes from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research which believe that the UK economy will contract by 0.1%. Of course, some could argue that the UK is already in a recession and has been for several years. The GBP/USD is up 0.10% and trading at 1.5821. 

Mixed news for stocks
Wall Street was in a mixed mood ahead of the upcoming employment numbers scheduled for release today in the United States. At the close of trading yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial was down 0.09%. The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 went in the opposite direction, climbing by 0.40% and 0.11% respectively.