Inflation data this week for the US economy won’t impact thinking on the next rate rise from the Fed – in fact some economists reckon it could spike, adding to the pressures for another rate rise this year.

The US third quarter earnings season kicks off this week with the reporting expected to be dominated by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, especially among financials and insurers.

Oil prices fell last week, with US futures ending the week under the important $US50 a barrel level for the first time for several weeks.

Expect an uncertain start to trading on Asian and Australian stock markets today after the US ended on a very weak note thanks to a mixed up jobs report for September that was as expected clouded by hurricanes Irma and especially Harvey.

Gold and oil fell, copper and zinc had a good week and iron ore marked time as China holidayed.

Yet another record closing for Wall Street stocks – but not for commodities like gold or oil. Our market will be up more than 30 points if the overnight trading on the ASX 200 is any guide.

One of the mysteries of yesterday’s market is why the shares in major retailers like Wesfarmers and Woolworths were not punished in the wake of the shockingly bad retail sales figures for August.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has bought a large minority stake in Pilot Flying J, the largest North American truck stop operator, and will become the majority owner in six years time.

The Moody’s credit rating agency has exposed the shoddy analysis and boosterism about the latest ‘tax policy/cut’ trumpeted by President Donald Trump last week especially here in Australia from some analysts and the likes of the Business Council, Treasurer Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull.

The sudden collapse of Monarch Airlines, the UK’s 5th largest airline, has left the European airline industry is starting to look like an emergency ward with three cut price operators or full service airline collapsing in the past couple of months and the largest, Ryanair struggling under self inflicted managerial incompetence that has left it short of pilots and forced to cancel hundreds of thousands of passenger journeys.

As expected the Reserve Bank yesterday kept its key cash rate steady at the historical low of 1.5% for the 14th month in a row.

Don’t worry about the slight miss in August housing approvals – look more at what is clearly a stabilising of the fall of the past year and the growing belief that the sector will be making a contribution to growth for a bit longer than previously expected.

Wall Street hit new record highs overnight and the Australian market is heading for a 20 point plus gain at the opening this morning after its holiday Monday surge yesterday.

US jobs, Australian interest rates and the health of global manufacturing will all be reviewed this week. That will be after start of the month global manufacturing surveys were issued yesterday and last night and showed the activity remains solid.

Pressure on iron or prices should ease for much of this week with China on Holiday until next weekend. Prices in the first week of October and the December quarter won’t move very much because of the long break.

And in Japan, news yesterday on sentiment in the country’s vital business sector, especially the manufacturing and export sectors was even more upbeat from China. The September quarter’s Tankan survey from the Bank of Japan revealed decade high levels of confidence.

China has headed off into its week-long National Day/mid-Autumn festival, but before it vanished we learned that big Chinese manufacturing companies are humming along at their fastest rate in five years, but smaller companies may be seeing a bit of an easing in activity.

Oil prices had their best quarter this year in the three months to September, while gold eked out a small rise, despite a negative performance for the week.

Despite its biggest weekly gain since February last week, the US dollar index declined for the third straight quarter in the three months to September— its longest quarterly losing streak since the financial crisis a decade ago.

Global share markets pushed higher over the last week of the third quarter as solid economic data and renewed talk of US tax reform more than offset continuing worries about North Korea and Brexit.

We saw further evidence yesterday that the strength of the jobs market is not a flash in the pan, as some sceptics seem to think.

The Reserve Bank of NZ has joined the RBA in ignoring clamour from some silly market economists and media columnists for a rate rise.

Oil jumped – Brent crude futures hitting two year plus highs – and gold jumped sharply in trading on Monday – and Wall Street sold off as Apple shares weakened for yet another session.