European markets up, Wall Street down. China's PMI falls, Fed decision ahead. Dollar strengthens, gold and crude fall. Eurozone inflation drops, ECB may cut. Fed's cautious approach, markets react.

Stocks firmer, investors hope for China stimulus

Oil lower, stocks firmer…on what? Moscow claims ‘substantial progress’ in peace talks while escalating conflict…but that is enough for traders grabbing onto any good headline. Russia is asking China for military aid and says Western shipments of weapons are legitimate targets. Russia says it can make debt repayments in rubles…default imminent, possibly on Wednesday. Just […]

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey loves to play the blame game. One minute he’s accusing greedy workers of demanding too much pay; now it’s the fault of early retirees for pushing up inflation. When will he ever admit that maybe the Bank was far too slow to rein in ultra-loose monetary policy as the pandemic ended?

European stock markets bounced early on Monday as relative calm returned amid the choppy seas of the banking ‘crisis’ as a buyer was found for Silicon Valley Bank’s assets. First Citizens will buy most of SVB’s assets, helping to lift sentiment across the banking sector after a rocky end to last week, though the pall of banking stress still hangs over the market. There is a not yet the sense that the market has stopped looking for its next victim.