Politics Today

World stocks sank to their lowest levels since 2013 on Wednesday, hit by another tumble in oil to 13-year lows that kept equity markets on track for one of their worst monthly performances ever.
U.S. stock futures were down 1.8 percent ahead of the open, after Wall Street saw its early gains on Tuesday erased by the tumble in U.S. crude.
The MSCI World equity index fell 1.3 percent to its lowest level since July 2013. The index has already dropped 9.9 percent in January, which if sustained would be the worst monthly loss since 2009, when the global financial crisis raged.
There have been steeper monthly drops only six times in the index's 28-year history, three of which occurred during the crisis of 2008/2009.
"I am quite pessimistic about the equity markets for the next two to three months," said Andreas Clenow, hedge fund trader and principal at ACIES Asset Management. "I do not see a 2008-style scenario, but I do see a bear market coming." That would imply a further 10 percent fall is to come.
U.S. crude wallowed at its lowest since 2003 after the world's energy watchdog warned the market could "drown in oversupply". U.S. futures shed 2.9 percent to $27.63 while Brent crude lost 2.5 percent, having slipped below $28 earlier in the session.
European shares touched their lowest level since October 2014, with the FTSEurofirst 300 down 3 percent and set for its biggest single session loss of 2016. Germany's DAX, France's CAC and Britain's FTSE were all down around 3 percent and also heading for their biggest falls of the year so far.
Another key commodity, copper, slipped along with oil, driving falls of 4.2 and 3.9 percent respectively in the basic resources and energy sectors.
Oil shares in Europe are down 13 percent already this year and at their lowest levels since 2003. That has been a major weight on the FTSEurofirst 300, which is down around 10 percent in 2016, which investors see as "correction" territory.
The safe-haven yen soared as risk appetite soured, dragging the dollar to a one-year low, as investors trimmed the chances of more tightening by the Federal Reserve.
Demand for German Bunds, another asset sought in times of uncertainty, was high, and the 10-year Bund yield fell to its lowest level since May ahead of a European Central Bank policy meeting on Thursday.
While the dollar fell against the yen, it was strong against emerging markets, compounding the misery for many countries already suffering from low oil prices.
Top emerging market shares fell 2.8 percent to a 6-1/2 year low, while EM currencies were crushed. Russia's rouble hit a new record low of 80.927 to the dollar.
"This is a different kind of dollar strength altogether ... this is quite clearly being driven by declining risk appetite, higher market volatility and lower commodity prices," said Aroop Chatterjee, a director of research at Barclays in London.
"In this new world emerging markets are the ones that bear the brunt of the dollar strength."
Traders were looking to a Bank of Canada interest rate decision at 1500 GMT on Wednesday as another potential trigger for markets. The Canadian dollar fell to a 13-year low ahead of the meeting, rocked by the sliding price of oil.
Some are expecting the BoC to lower interest rates to cushion the blow from oil prices, which could peg back other commodity currencies.
"Dollar/CAD is important for all commodity currencies intraday, and if the Bank of Canada cuts rates ... we could see more weakness," said Markus Dahlstrom, global head of FX and commodities at SEB.
In Asia, stocks surrendered all of Tuesday's rare gains with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan falling 2.9 percent on the day and hitting its lowest since October 2011.
Chinese markets fared only marginally better amid mounting talk that more stimulus may be on the way, possibly before the Lunar New Year holidays in early February.
The CSI300 index fell 1.5 percent, after rallying more than 3 percent on Tuesday. The Shanghai Composite Index eased 1 percent.


DAILY TIMES.
YEMI.