Australia has suffered a $1.63 billion-plus trade turnaround in February, thanks to a drop in processed gold exports and a big jump in imports of oil and related products.

China has again tightened monetary policy to battle still high levels of inflation.

Despite another fall in sales of locally made cars in March, the industry as a whole had one of its best months on record.

Another strong month for job ads according to the ANZ’s survey for March, but the reality is that it was a solid month for jobs advertised on the net.

We had a big hint about the loss of confidence in Japanese business yesterday after the March 11 quake and tsunami, but not about the damage done by the Fukushima nuclear crisis which continues.

Japan’s central bank updates its quarterly Tankan business survey today, taking into account post-quake responses.

Commodities finished the week in a fairly convincing fashion, except for gold and copper, and look like having another reasonable week with the US dollar expected to be weak ahead of the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday which is seen as putting up rates for the first time in several years.

A solid month for job creation in the US last month saw American shares end the first day of April with good gains, as did markets in Europe and parts of Asia.

Jobs and interest rates in Australia, interest rates in Europe, a revised look at business sentiment in Japan, the strong markets and more.

More all time highs this week for the Australian dollar against the US currency.

Now the Fukushima nuclear disaster has the prospect to do real damage the Japanese economy and the country’s finances above and beyond what has already been estimated.

Despite the flood of bad news in the quarter, it has turned out rather well for most investors as markets, especially in the US and Europe, rediscovered risk and the joys of cheap money.

Retail sales rose 0.5% last month, the biggest since last July, beating market forecasts and confirming that the industry is rebounding from the slump in the closing months of 2010.

If the retail sales and private credit reports were a bit better than expected, the news from the housing industry was very much on the mixed side.

Private equity-owned retailer, Colorado Group has collapsed under the weight of $396 million of debt which left it unable to cope with the slowdown in retail sales in the past seven or so month.

US pharmaceutical giant Cephalon which has made a $A225 million offer for the locally listed ChemGenex has in turn copped a bid from a rival drug group in North America.

And there we have it.

While Japan returned to a trade surplus and the outlook for consumers firmed in February, economists continue to warn of the growing downside risks to the export sector and the economy generally due to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which has paralysed production facilities, power supplies and distribution networks in north-eastern Japan and around Tokyo.

There were signs the Japanese economy was strengthening before the March 11 triple crisis.

Germany is now back as the world’s biggest exporter, but for a country that should be outward looking and confident after surviving the credit crunch and global recession, it’s losing its way.

Despite some optimism that Japan would bounce back quickly, there are now signs the recovery will take longer and the impact on the economy will be greater than expected.

Gold and silver prices fell last week following a positive report on the US economy, while oil prices bounced around a bit before a small gain on the day.

A busy week here and offshore for economic data, while it will also see what has been a mixed first quarter end on Thursday (and the March half year for a number of local companies).

Remember a couple of weeks ago when the Australian dollar dipped under parity with the greenback and then fell well under 98 USc?

Happy days are here again, according to global markets which had their best week since last December.