The global economy expands but continues its slide from 2015 as the bear market is getting stronger as economic and earnings data weakens. January new jobs in the United States trickled. The US Labor Department said that employers added just 151,000 jobs last month, down from an average monthly gain of 283,000 in the fourth quarter of last year.

US stocks endured a steeper first-week decline in 2016 than in any year since before the First World War. Asia stock markets were little changed this week due to light holiday trading and poor economic data coming from the US.

The world economy is “still expanding” but growth is “weak and uneven” said Maurice Obstfeld, the International Monetary Fund’s chief economist, this past week.

The Federal Reserve policy to raise the interest rate a quarter point in December, was the first time in almost a decade. Many believe this may have been too soon. Based on its slow policy of Quantitative Easing, the federal reserve has propped up a market based on cheap money and debt.

As investors look for solid safe harbors, gold hit three-month highs today, extending its biggest weekly rise since July 2013 as sliding stock markets, global growth uncertainty and a softer dollar prompted investors to seek safety in hard assets.

Spot gold reached a peak of $1,176.90, its strongest since Oct. 28, and was at $1,176.66 an ounce at 1104 GMT, up 0.3 percent.