Bloomberg Markets were largely in a holding pattern on Wednesday, with European stocks struggling to maintain gains and the dollar edging lower as investors awaited fresh insight on the path for borrowing costs in the world’s biggest economy. China’s credit-rating downgrade sank industrial metals. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index erased most of its advance as auto makers fell in the …

VIENNA / Reuters OPEC and non-member oil producers could deepen output cuts or extend them for a year when they meet in Vienna this week as they seek to clear a global stocks overhang and prop up the price of crude, Kuwait said on Wednesday. The top oil producer in OPEC, Saudi Arabia, favours extending the output curbs by nine …

Bloomberg Iraq is mulling an oil hedging program to lock in prices for future crude sales, potentially topping a similar deal run by Mexico that is considered the largest energy trade in Wall Street. The Middle Eastern nation is in the very early stages of exploring a hedge for as much as a quarter of either its crude production or …