Gold down, and it was a case of vote, what vote in Italy? Crisis, what crisis after the country’s PM quit after his reform referendum was defeated by sceptical Italian voters.

Still more action for markets and investors to consider, even though the year is almost over.

Naturally oil futures finished out the week on a high, scoring a weekly gain of more than 12% as traders continue to hold out hope for the success of OPEC’s output cut deal.

The Trump factor finally exhausted itself so far as global stockmarkets are concerned, while the surge in oil prices on Thursday and Friday could not help either.

Gold futures settled higher Friday, trimming their loss for the week as the US dollar and Treasury bond yields eased after the release of the monthly jobs report.

The Australian economy seems to have gone from boom in the June quarter data, to WTF as the flow of figures from key areas of the economy lose their sheen and suggest the growing possibility of a slide in the pace of activity running into 2017.

Oil futures rose for a second day in a row overnight as traders shrugged off second thoughts about the OPEC production cut agreement.

As economic activity in the broader economy slows from the June quarter’s 3.3% surge, the trade account is being boosted by the rebound in commodity prices, leading some economists to wonder if this is an example of "Fool’s Gold" – a situation where we could be fooled into thinking the boom is back in force to boost the economy, when in fact it is on its own.

A brief sugar rush for markets with the ASX looking for a 12 to 14 point gain later this morning, less than half what was on the board earlier in the overnight session.

Here’s the economic policy dilemma for 2017 and 2018 for the Reserve Bank, the Federal Government and investors – the prospect of sub 3% GDP growth for much of next year is a real possibility, even though the commodities rebound continues.

Oil prices surged overnight as OPEC and some other producers agreed the first supply cut since the GFC eight years ago after Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies accepted big production cuts and Iran agreed to freeze output.

Just as iron ore prices jumped to 26 month highs on Monday at just over $US80 a tonne according to one measure, so they slid back under a day later.

Oil prices fell by nearly 4% overnight as the tooing and frooing within OPEC intensified to lockdown a deal to cut production to reduce global oversupply.

Knock another brick in the wall of belief about a commodity price turnaround – it is still to early to be sure, the Japanese economy is very fickle, but we seem to be seeing the strongest signs for years that the Japanese economy is shaking itself out of its long deflationary rut and sluggishness.

Global oil prices bounced all over the place overnight – falling sharply in Asian and early European trading, then rebounding – the reason – the expected confusion ahead of Wednesday’s meeting of OPEC which is still expected to reveal some sort of cap on production.

European unity and some of its banks are back to threaten the stability of the global banking and financial systems.

OPEC, US employment data for November, the Austrian presidential election, the Italian electoral reform (next Sunday) and the second round primary for the French conservatives for next year’s election (yesterday) and Australia’s September quarter business investment figures – all will be the main focus points in the coming week.

A cautious start to the week in Asia today with all eyes on OPEC and a series of meetings starting today.

Gold and silver prices took another hit on Friday to build their losses for the week, but the boomlet in copper continues unabated.

A big week for oil and other markets – if this week’s crucial production OPEC meeting can strike a deal to cut output. And the Saudi’s have managed to cast some late doubt on any deal.

Gold stocks face a bit of a whacking this morning on the ASX after a sharp slide in the price of the metal overnight offset rises in the price of copper and iron ore (according to some measures).

Construction activity in the Australian economy has fallen to its lowest level in nearly six years, extending the run of weak partial data for September quarter GDP in two week’s time.