Not sure if you heard but Wal-Mart (WMT), one of my recommendations, has raised its dividend. This further reiterates the strength of the company in a struggling economy. The company continues to expand and prosper in this environment and outperform its peers.

Then there is the initial jobless claims which provided a nice exhale moment of the session. After a shocker last week and several weeks of trending higher, people filing for first time unemployment benefits dipped a little. Of course we have to get the number down under 400,000 before celebrating, but considering the direction we were heading it’s a big relief not to have a “5″ handle on this report. Is this decrease sustainable? I am not sure. From my conversations in the industry, companies are still skittish about hiring due to the continued uncertainty in the economy, both domestically and globally.

On the international front, the situation in Greece looks better today as their auction has attracted more than $21 billion in bids (only $5 billion was up for sale). The moral of the story is that Germany and France have no choice except to bailout their fellow EU member. This will only force them to turn on the printing presses to increase the supply of Euros. Keep in mind there are other struggling members in the EU. So, if Greece is bailed out, don’t be surprised to see other member nations asking for help. This will only provide additional support for a continued downtrend in the Euro.

Also, we are not alone by any means in this trade. George Soros, Paulson & Co, SAC Capital Advisors, and Greenlight Capital have all made large bearish bets against the Euro. Now, the DOJ (Department of Justice) wants to investigate to see if they are colluding together to purposely bring down the value of the Euro. Really? Looks like none of our investments are safe these days. You can read out it here.

Also, check out these articles:

• The Congressional Oversight Committee has published a very negative viewpoint of the coming maturation of commercial real estate loans. Are you surprised? Read about it here.
• Read here about the continued mess in Greece. I hope you have shorted the Euro. This should also be a positive for precious metals. Uncertainty is good for these investments.
• Here is some interesting commentary by Dennis Gartman as to why the Euro is weakening.

-Samir