Japan managed to pull out of recession in the last quarter of last year, but it was a far from convincing rebound – for Australia it means our two biggest export markets (including China) are not enjoying solid growth at the moment and won’t be for much of 2015.

Oil price futures rose on Friday to end the week up 2.1% as the number of oil rigs working in the US fell for the 10th straight week.

A quieter week this week in Australia and offshore, with earnings reports expected to attract more attention from investors – but watch events in the eurozone connected with Greece’s debt talks starting tonight. Any breakdown could hit market confidence hard.

Shares around the world rose solidly last week thanks to optimism regarding Greece, with the Australian market hitting a six year high, while there were new all time highs touched in the US on Friday night and in Germany as well.

The December half profit reporting season ramps up this week with 80 major companies due to report – 13 on Tuesday alone – after last week’s solid end with big results from the Commonwealth Bank and Telstra and Rio Tinto’s buyback and higher dividend.

There were no ‘smoking’ guns or obvious pointers about the health of the jobs market and the economy in January’s employment report yesterday – except to say it remains as confused and uncertain as the Reserve Bank suggested it was when it cut interest rates at the start of the month.

Reports on the economies of China and Australia yesterday give us an opportunity to make a couple of points about the current health of both.

On February 28, investor/fans of Warren Buffett will get three annual letters for the price of one, along with the quarterly and annual reports for Berkshire Hathaway.

After the share price futures trading over the weekend, our market will start steady to slightly higher this morning as it seeks to extend the biggest bull run for 15 years. 

Goldbugs received a timely reminder on Friday night, our time, that the price of the metal is more tied to the strength of the US economy and greenback than any other factor, while oil prices again surged in the wake of the tremendously strong US jobs report for January (and the revisions going back to November) which saw a total of half a million new jobs reported for the three months.

The January trade figures from China are a stunner – an unexplained near 20% slide in imports and exports down 3.3%, as it appeared the most important economy for Australia had experienced a sharp slide in the level of demand and economic activity.

After the Liberal Party leadership meeting this morning and the fallout, it will be time for everyone to focus on the real issues – the economy and corporate earnings.

Oil’s four day boomlet vanished overnight as the usual weekly reports on US production and stocks revealed a faster than forecast (optimistically) build up in inventories to a new 80 year high for this time of year. The news saw oil prices slump by up to 8% in US and European trading and spillover into early dealings in Asia this morning.

The Reserve Bank will cut rates again in coming months, with some economists predicting the cash rate could be under 2% by year’s end – and there’s a very simple reason for this, the economy is slowly, but surely sliding towards a halt.