Gold is down $15 today to $1315 an ounce after a 10% rise in the period up to mid Februry 2014 – the best start to a year since 1983 as weak manufacturing data from the U.S. last week helped the metal have a 5% week on week gain.

A bid to take Essar Energy private by its biggest shareholder has raised further concerns about the decision to admit several companies based in emerging markets onto the London Stock Exchange despite dubious credentials.

Another positive week for the markets this week to follow last weeks recovery in sentiment. The big move over the week was gold, which moved up 5% to $1,320 an ounce, a three month high, meaning it is up 9.5% for 2014 but still down 19% in the last 12 months.

New Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen is meeting Congress for the first time today. Business as usual compared with the Ben Bernanke era by the look of it particularly as she is keen to maintain the era of ultra easy money for the foreseeable future.

The first 5 weeks or so of 2014 proved to be the fertile correction territory that was so badly needed after the huge gains in global equity markets in 2013. With worries about emerging markets triggering a sell off in currencies, the VIX, the fear index, spiked last week to levels not seen since the 2008/2009 financial crisis.

The US non-farms payroll data for January just came in. The data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics was expected to show 180,000-190,000 workers were hired but the number came in light at just 113,000. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged at 6.7% but came in at 6.6%, the lowest since October 2008.

Another month on in 2014 and another battering for equity investors with Japan’s Nikkei Average ending down 4.2% this morning at 14,008 after US S&P 500 lost 2.3% last night in its worst trading day since June and hitting an October 2013 low.

A reality check for the stock markets of the world in January with heavy losses and a major bull back in the major indices after the over-exuberance of 2013. The U.S. market finished with its largest monthly fall since May 2012.

It was a case of a tale of two techs last night after Amazon and Google both reported Q4 2013 earnings, with the former dropping heavily and the latter initially subdued and then rising sharply during the analyst Q&A.

At the December meeting, the committee began tapering down its quantitative easing (QE) program, cutting back on monthly purchases of U.S. Treasury and mortgage backed securities (MBS) by $10 billion to $75 billion as the American economy continues to grow.