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On both sides of the Atlantic markets ended the week with record-braking values after rise in economic expectations in the USA and Germany. Dow Jones closed the week with 9381.1, up with 1.4%. S&P 500 closed satisfactorily at 1012.1- 1.3% week increase. Nasdaq only raised with 0.1%- least from the US indexes, and closed at 2002.7. in London FTSE closed at 4730.6, with 2.4% increase, supported by the excellent results of London's biggest banks- HSBC and Barclay's. Japanese Nikkei raised with 0.5% and closed at 10387.8

This week the unemployment data for the USA was issued- it has dropped with 0.1%, from 9.5% in June to 9.4% in July. In Europe, an unexpectedly high rate of exports was declared by Germany. In Greece, things don't look that well. Unemployment has risen from 7% in April 2008 to 9.4% now. The news was not that good regarding real estate and construction either. The National Statistical Service of Greece announced a 23.7% decrease in building permit applications and in those received, the requested building areas average has dropped with 40%, meaning that not only the number of new buildings drops down but the projects size is also decreasing. The Service predicts a further drop-down of building permits in the next 5 months.

The prices of oil have significantly risen and closed the week at $74.40 for a barrel, after reaching $76 in Thursday, due to the world market progress during the past three-four weeks. Besides raising the demand, the market growth decreased the price of the dollar (since the dollar is an attractive currency during crisis), boosting the economical expectations in the petrol-supplying countries.