By: Michael Vodicka "Bigger picture, as always, it all comes back to the central banks. Everyone in the world knows the central banks will be there to support the cause on any material pullback in stocks or the economy." Stocks took a bit of a beating this week, posting their worst performance of the year after Friday’s jobs report came in below expectations. For the week, the Dow Jones fell 1.4%, the S&P 500 declined 2.51% and the NASDAQ shed 3.4%.

By: Michael Vodicka "The only fresh warning signal we saw this week was a fairly sharp GDP miss on Friday, with a read of 2.3% coming in below expectations of 2.6%." The market took a turn for the better this week, rallying on strong quarterly earnings to reverse a recent bout of weakness. For the week, the Dow Jones added 1.5%, the S&P 500 1.8% and the NASDAQ led after tacking on 2.31%. Stocks had been under pressure for the last few weeks as a fresh flare up in the Euro zone weighed on the Street. But sentiment took a decidedly bullish turn this week on the back of some very strong Q1 earnings results from bellwethers like Ford Co (F), Apple, Inc. (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN).

By: Michael Vodicka "Looking forward, it is clear that the world is struggling with a serious food problem. In fact, the United Nation estimates that global food production needs to increase by more than 70% over the next 20 years just to keep up." “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2011.” Sounds pretty scary, doesn’t it? But that was the name of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) annual report last year, showcasing the alarming trend of food scarcity that continues to grip the world. And as we grind through 2012, that momentum is showing few if any signs of slowing. In early April, the FAO’s food price index came in at 216, just a dash short of the all-time high of 235 from April of 2011 as a growing global population competes for limited resources.

With Europe's most recent blast of weakness putting the central banks back in the spotlight, precious metals are sure to follow. That means its a good time to see what some of our favorite gold stocks have been up to. Here is a quick look at my top 4 gold charts with a rundown of company fundamentals. Enjoy!