The recent government stress tests were made laughable last week as the US unemployment rate hit a recession high of 9.4%. This unemployment data was released Friday, June 5th, less than a month after the government completed the stress tests of 19 major financial companies.

The rally seems to have been a two part rally. One with volume and one without. When looking at the chart of the S&P 500 from March 6th, the bottom, to April 2nd, volume was very heavy. Since then, volume has been almost nonexistent. In fact, volume has continued to get lighter over the last couple weeks.

The Federal Reserve is schedule to release the results of the bank ‘stress test’ next week as the Obama Administration aims to restore financial stability in the world’s largest economy however, as the International Monetary Fund forecasts global write-downs budding from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression to exceed $4 trillion in 2010, uncertainties emerging from the outco

Investors’ mood was influenced last week by the stress test debate, tentative signs of economic stabilization in a number of countries and a barrage of earnings report – generally better than feared. As the equity rally ground to a halt on some bourses, the US dollar and government bonds offered little safety appeal and edged weaker.