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US, Asian and European markets were mixed to firmer overnight, pointing to a more modest start for our market today.

Aussie shares were lifted today thanks to positive commodity prices and the stronger overseas markets overnight.

Another dead cat bounce for shares and commodities after the $US2 a share bid from JP Morgan for stricken Bear Stearns was raised to $US10 a share and sales of existing homes in the US rose in February for the first time since last July.

The Australian dollar is in for a rough ride as the deleveraging of commodity markets follows the continuing wind down of borrowings in the broader financial markets.

So are we seeing a sign of some settlement in world markets in the wake of the saving of Bear Stearns, or just another bump on the way to the bottom?

For all the angst in stock markets it’s the conditions in the interbank market that remains the key to confidence and sentiment levels.

A quietish week with the Reserve Bank’s Stability Report on the Australian Financial System a highlight on Thursday, interim figures from retailer, David Jones, TV group, Ten Network and the 2007-08 final figures later today from Sigma Pharmaceuticals.

Aussie stocks finished 3.7% higher today following an interesting day on the markets, with a flurry of activity on all fronts.

Positive news for the banks and their shareholders continued today, as the Commonwealth Bank and St George bank both declared formidable gains from the sale of their Visa shares into Visa’s Initial Public Offering (IPO).

I suppose the question has to be asked: what next after the events of the past week?

Interest rates may rise and fall, employment may jump, or slide and the economy will slow, then pick up, but for the Reserve Bank something has changed.

The National Australia Bank has cut its growth forecast for the US economy and now expects it to slide into recession in the first half of this year.

The share market finished at 2.30pm in preparation for the Easter long weekend, closing 3% lower at the end of the day.

Gold futures fell by a whopping US$60 overnight, stunning unwary investors into panic overdrive.

Amidst the battering the finance sector has endured in recent times, one bank received a small blessing today – Standard and Poor’s rating agency today reaffirmed the long-term financial ratings of recently merged Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank at BBB+/A2.

The Reserve Bank has given itself some wiggle room on interest rates that it didn’t have last month when it went all hawkish and warned that rates and inflation would remain high until well into 2010.

Despite claims by some economists that the RBA will lift rates at its May meeting, don’t bet on it (see story above).

It has taken the failure and bailout of Bear Stearns and the way that rattled world financial markets to produce the most comprehensive statement so far from the Federal Government about how it sees Australia in the midst of the worst conditions in global markets for decades.

The US Federal Reserve its key federal Funds rate by 0.75% to 2.25%, warning that downside risks remain.

The Australian sharemarket surged 4% on Wednesday on the back a significant rally in the US markets overnight.

The moves by the US Federal Reserve to drive the bailout and sale of failed investment bank, Bear Stearns; cut its market dealing rate by 0.25% and establish a line of credit for US financial markets, represents the most significant moves by the central bank to try and steady jittery markets in over 60 years.

No bloodbath but stockmarket trading was definitely edgy around the world.

The Fed’s moves in the US will have an echo here: not so much on economic activity, but on the Reserve Bank’s approach to interest rate changes