United States

Oil was the big loser overnight while stock markets began to doubt a Fed cut tonight.

The Dow was once again positive as traders set for a rate cut on Wednesday.

OPEC wants to switch to a basket of currencies while Gulf states are concerned about their greenback pegs.

China is encouraging its banks to take stakes in foreign institutions, while over in Africa China’s resource interests grow.

There is a wealth of US economic data being released this week but it will all be overshadowed by one number – that of the Fed funds rate after Wednesday night.

There was no bad news on Wall Street last night to recover from, so the Dow just went up. Gold took off as well.

The Dow recovered from a 128 point fall to close almost unchanged. No, this is not yesterday’s report.

The Dow pulled back from a 200 point fall to be “unch” after ridiculous rumours of an “emergency” rate cut circulated Wall Street.

The Dow closed up over 100 points led by the tech sector, but those gains were already being given up in the after-market following the Amazon result.

Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley argues the US remains at risk of recession and this will drag down global growth as the de-coupling argument is a fundamental contradiction.