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The US dollar rebounded strongly on Friday, giving it the strongest week since January in the wake of the much better than forecast US jobs figures.

US oil major Chevron has signed a $A90 billion contract, Australia’s biggest ever deal of any kind, to sell liquefied natural gas to Tokyo Electric Power from its proposed Wheatstone LNG project offshore northwestern Western Australia.

Our market should start higher today, but watch for the sell off in gold shares to emerge after the sharp 4% plunge Friday in the world price in New York.

After last week’s interest rate rise from the Reserve Bank, this week we see the economic stories for the month of October and the September quarter further fleshed out with the release of a series of reports.

More increases in Australian interest rates are likely in the year ahead as the RBA seeks to move rates towards normal levels. The normal level is now judged to be around 5%.

The New Zealand’s economy is likely to grow in 2010, thanks to rising consumer spending and global demand for exports, according to the latest update from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.

A solid month in November for many of the world’s major car markets, including Australia, but those economies where some sort of tax or purchase assistance is in place did a lot better than those without.

New highs for world gold prices again, with the futures price rising above $US1,227 in trading yesterday and overnight.

Gold surged to all-time highs above $US1,200 an ounce yesterday and overnight after the fears about risk and the collapse of Dubai faded and the US dollar dropped sharply.

The rebound in private home construction continued in October, according to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday.

Now we can see the strength of Asia’s recovery.

There’s nothing from the October credit figures to force the Reserve Bank to lift interest rates today.

United Arab Emirate shares fell sharply overnight as the market reopened for the first time since Dubai called for a delay in repaying $US59 billion in debt last Wednesday.

More conflicting economic data from Japan, so much so that the government has revealed plans for what could be yet another stimulus spending package.

David Jones chief executive Mark McInnes says the upmarket department store group is well positioned to leverage the next upturn in the economic cycle.

Amid the hysteria over Dubai’s little shock late last week there was some good and bad news from Tokyo.

More good news from China and Asia for the Australian economy.

A further statement is expected later today from the Dubai government on its shock statement last Wednesday that called for a standstill on up to $US59 billion in debt from a key government business, Dubai World.

In the week ahead in Australia, the focus will be on the Reserve Bank’s interest rate decision tomorrow, while overseas, the panic over Dubai will ease, but not go away, and questions over the health of the US economy will return on Friday night with the November jobless figures.

For the first time in months no US banks went broke last week.

World share markets have slumped on fears a possible default by Dubai will cause other highly indebted countries to follow suit.

The AMP’s chief economist, Dr Shane Oliver says no matter how much economic and investment issues change, there will always be a cycle. In other words history may not repeat but it does rhyme.

After the flood of figures this week, including the Fed’s board minutes, two things can be said with confidence about the US economic recovery.

We had a surprisingly optimistic economic forecast from the second most senior official in the Reserve Bank.

And Mr Battellino’s point was underlined yesterday with the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealing a sharp, across the board rise in the value of construction work done in the 3rd quarter, the first significant quarterly output survey to be released ahead of the national accounts.