The monthly US jobs report for November that will be released on Friday is unlikely to be so bad that the Federal Open Market Committee would upset market expectations and refrain from hiking interest rates in mid-December. Instead, the data are likely to validate what fixed-income markets have already priced in when it comes to short-term interest rates. The …

  The curse of the rear-view mirror has struck again. The Bank of England’s stress tests of UK banks were the toughest yet, but didn’t model the impact of the Brexit negotiations or a withdrawal from the EU. Rather than bickering over whether such tests are too tough or too lenient, we should be questioning whether the process itself needs …

  DUBAI / Reuters Petrochemicals companies led Gulf stock markets higher on Thursday in response to OPEC’s first agreement on output cuts to prop up oil prices since 2008 — a deal that could allow governments to ease austerity policies slightly. Expectations for the deal had already boosted oil and Gulf bourses on Wednesday, but the agreement included bigger production …