The Riksbank convened today for the first rate decision since April, and in line with forecasts, the central bank raised the repo rate 25bps to 0.50%. In the last statement from the April meeting, some members had argued for keeping the repo rate unchanged at 0.25% for the rest of 2010, but attitudes have thawed as the Swedish data in the interim has largely been very encouraging. Q1 GDP…

New 52-week lows are expanding on the Nasdaq and new 52-week highs are drying up. Net New Highs (new 52-week highs less new 52-week lows) is an easy way to assess the battle for new 52-week extremes. Net New Highs first dipped below -100 in early May and has dipped below this level four more times since then. An uptrend is pretty much impossible as long as Net New Highs remain negative.

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Markets are looking ahead to Friday’s June employment report, and there is little optimism the number will show anything more than a slight gain.