Binary.com

Setting a bull bet predicting that The Dow Jones (Wall Street) will be higher than 12271 in 10 days time could return 126% with BetOnMarkets.com.

An ‘Up or Down’ trade with BetOnMarkets.com wins if either of two barrier levels are hit within the specified time. An Up or Down trade on GBP/ USD to touch either 1.9454 or 1.992 within the next 10 days could return 11%.

The 'barrier range' is a similar concept, but you choose higher and lower barriers. I could, for example, use the 13,000 level as my high barrier and 12,000 as my low barrier.

The past week had the potential to be explosive. Central bank meetings in the UK and Europe had traders licking their lips with anticipation for the possible outcomes of the meetings and the potential volatility they could bring.

"Sell in May" says the old stock market adage, but the bulls were in no mood for old wives' tales last week. Markets were in rally mode after the better than expected US jobs report, and news of more liquidity injections from the Federal Reserve.

Following the previous week’s heavy buying, global markets again finished the week positively. However, gains were limited to around half a percent for the week with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 rising the most.

On a day when you hear about the worlds largest bank CITI Group losing $5 Billion and cutting 4,000 jobs world wide, you might expect markets to be down severely.

The economy, stupid was a phrase widely used during Bill Clintons successful campaign against George Bush Snr. Right now, we could simplify the phase even further in relation to the prospects for the UK and US in 2008; Its the housing market, stupid.

High yield spreads remain stubbornly high despite dramatic interventions from UK and US central banks. Banks are hording cash due to mistrust and fear over who will make the next big write down.

To say that Wall Street has been paying close attention to the actions of the US Federal Reserve recently is an understatement to say the least.