US unemployment figures released on Friday showed a reduction in numbers by 243,000, down to 8.3% of the workforce, much better than expected and indicating the US economic recovery is stronger than economists thought. This is of course US election year.

World markets  are very closely linked and these very powerful figures will help support European equities, with the Footsie currently on a 6 month high and far less likely to experience the extreme volatility seen frequently in 2011 that unnerves fund managers.

Europe seems to be going in the right direction, much slower than the markets would want and the terms of the Greek economic package and indeed the future of Greece as a member of the EU, can still have the capacity to upset the recovery in a big way but there are less sharks now in the water.