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Chinese stock have rallied with the Shanghai Composite Index gaining more than 4% as officials attempt to support the market as GDP figures last week fell short of the 6.6% growth target by 0.1%

Markets put in a mixed day on Friday. The results for global equities were generally poor, but absent were any violent swings in market activity. Individual regions traded -off apparently their own idiosyncratic drivers, characteristic of the diverse web of risks plaguing investors.

Three key topics to keep an eye on this week: The Euro’s Fundamental Path is Growing More Complicated. Brexit Risk Jumps after EU Summit, Rumor of Border Breakthrough, Protests and New Credit Ratings. The United States and China Jostling for Economic Supremacy.

China recorded its slowest growth in a quarter for almost a decade. GDP growth year-on-year came in at 6.5% down from estimates of 6.6%, largely down to the continued trade war with the U.S. and high debt levels.

Cannabis stocks slipped after Canada’s legalisation. Aurora Cannabis Inc posting a 15% slide shortly after market opened yesterday. Popular ETFs ETFMG Alternative Harvest and Horizons Medical Marijuana Life Sciences also saw decreases

The UK is back in focus today, with inflation data likely to build upon yesterday’s jobs numbers to build a picture of the pressures on the BoE. With average earnings on the rise, the predicted fall in inflation could actually provide a positive differential between wages and the cost of living, thus raising real wages. UK wages grow at their quickest pace in nearly 10 years. The level of pay rose by 3.1% from the three months prior to August and a fall of 47,000 to 1.36million in unemployment levels.The EU summit will shift the market mindset back to Brexit, with the EU having allowed Theresa May the opportunity to find a solution to break the deadlock.

It's still early days, but investors appear to have regained their nerve overnight. The Asian session was tepid, to be sure, however a rally in European and US equities reveal a market that has found its appetite for equities again.

As the existing narrative would imply, much of this was underpinned by a fresh appetite for rate-sensitive US big tech stocks, which according to the NASDAQ, rallied almost 3 per cent overnight, leading both the Dow Jones and S&P in the realms of 2 per cent higher.

Implied volatility fell, but remains relatively high at around 18, so of course it would be foolish to claim the recent sell-off is authoritatively through.

U.K. monthly average earnings and monthly unemployment release today at 9:30 BST. Earnings forecast to be stable at 2.6% whilst the unemployment rate is forecast to be 4%. The releases could be an important signal to the current economic health of the UK.

Hurricane Michael is already regarded as one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit US. The worst hit areas of Florida’s northwest coast saw significant damage to residential property, along with President Trump authorizing FEMA to step in and coordinate disaster efforts. 

Even though the worst might have already passed, the 2018 North Atlantic hurricane season is likely to have sizable effect for the next seven weeks. The effect on the markets can be notable around this time, with the following sectors likely to see an increase in volatility.

The music entertainment arm of Tencent, which has 800 million users across a variety of platforms in China, had originally planned to go public in the United States imminently. The IPO was initially set to launch as soon as this week but has now reportedly been delayed because of the recent global sell-off. It is not the first company to pull out or postpone an IPO in the recent weeks, and whilst Tencent have declined to comment on the decision, it’s likely to be on the back of volatility seen in the equity markets.

This week sees Brexit negotiations between the UK and EU come to the forefront once more. IG's own Sara Walker will be joined by Simon French, Chief Economist to UK merchant bank Panmure Gordon, and Nick Cawley from Daily FX to discuss how the meetings outcome could affect the FX market. Get involved with the #IGForexChat and put your questions to Simon and Nick. Submit your questions on Community. 

Market’s suffered a painful correction this past week. From peak-to-trough, the benchmark I like to refer to as a measure of hold-out enthusiasm, the S&P 500, dropped nearly 8 percent. That is still a ways from the technical ‘bear market’ designation which is a 20 percent correction from peak highs, but that scale of loss from a seemingly indefatigable climber rattles confidence. To be clear, the slump in sentiment was not isolated to the US equity market. That was just among the more remarkable victims of the speculative swoon owing to its typical outperformance. Looking across the other capital markets with a risk bearing, there were meaningful losses registered from foreign shares, carry trade, emerging market assets and more.

Bitcoin is on a rip this morning in an attempt to break up out of the long term triangle pattern.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde commented that U.S. stock valuations have been “extremely high”, possibly implying a correction. On a similar line, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin insisted that the stock sell-off wasn’t “surprising”, while insisting that U.S. fundamentals remain strong. Lagarde also advised to be ready for more market volatility

Rout over? There are tentative signs that the global equity rout witnessed last week has subsided, at least for now.

The Dow Jones continues its tumble, losing more than 1,300 in two days, as worries over interest rates and trade barriers continue. 

Bank Earnings season kicks off today with three big players standing out: JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. Analysts are forecasting that banks will post their highest profits since the financial crisis as they are said to enter a “golden age”, fuelled by rising interest rates.  

What happened? The sell-off continues, and despite a brief pause during Wall Street trade that opened hopes of an end to this rout, it was quickly dashed as investors went back to dumping stocks.

US sees largest market fall in 8 months with the Dow Jones losing over 800 points  in the main session.

Volatility is up, and risk appetite has been dulled. The VIX traded towards the 22 figure overnight, while currency safe havens such as the Yen were sought amid a somewhat remarkable sell-off across global equities during the European and North American sessions.

We’ve seen the knee jerk reactions to trade tariffs and war talk rhetoric, in some instances tit for tat plays from both sides to maintain political face, and whilst the initial volatility spikes seemed to be over it looks like we’ve shifted to a new horizon - one where the actual fall out of these tariffs is coming into play.

And what are the main markets to watch which could see some movement going forwards? I’d be interested in a few other people’s thoughts on this. I guess we’d be looking at

"What are we saying folks? Are there areas or prices which you're looking at for a move either way after bitcoins recent consolidation period? They say it's a time to accumulate when there is consolidation. Could now be the time to buy bitcoin? I think I'd be adding to my position in physical but would be cautious of anything else."

Hurricane Michael intensified from category 3 storm to category 4 early Wednesday. As it turns towards Florida, it could shutdown nearly 40% of US Gulf of Mexico crude output as early as Monday. When it comes to soft commodities, orange juice and orange juice futures could be affected. You can find this under the soft commodity section on the IG trading platform.

The growth-versus-risk paradigm shifted further in favour of the latter in the last 24 hours, as a multitude of stories compounded the bearish sentiment mounting in global markets.

Following a few questions from clients regarding the surge in Italian bond yields in the last week, I have put together a quick overview of why this has taken place.

What are your thoughts on GBPJPY? Join the discussion and commentary from one trader who believes "a near miss to the major quarter 150.000 forming a triple top at the completion of a butterfly pattern.

I'm expecting to see the price to break under the 147.121 level aiming for the next major quarter 140.000. A good set-up for very patient people on this trade could be to go short at the breakout of the 147.121 support level aiming the 141.000 level for an amazing 600 pips trade."