UK January PPI figures were strong. Input prices were up 2.0% on the month and up 8.4% year-on-year – the highest level since October 2008, core PPI output was up 0.3% on the month and 2.5% on the year, while output prices were up 0.4% month-on-month and 3.7% from one year before - the highest level since December 2008. Last week was an extremely volatile one on the commodities market, with the price of a barrel of oil dipping from USD 78.04 to 71.31. Gold began the week by surging to USD 1124.45 an ounce before retreating swiftly to USD 1049.50, a decline of around 7% from the previous week. Germany's industrial production dropped 2.6% in December from the previous month. US unemployment dipped sharply to 9.7% in January from 10.0% in December. However, non-farm payroll employment declined again, with the US economy shedding 20,000 non-farm jobs in January. Furthermore, revised figures for December showed that 150,000 non-farm jobs had been lost rather than the originally reported figure of 85,000.