Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has increased its stake in Apple by 55%, boosting its bet on the iPhone maker even as other prominent investors have reduced theirs.

Jobs and wages will be the big issues this week in Australia, along with the first of the two-week peak of the Australian June 30 reporting season.

Global oil futures ended sharply higher Friday night, posting their largest weekly gain in about four months as traders held out hope for price-stabilisation measures by OPEC countries next month.

The pace of activity in China’s economy faltered in July as factory output, retail sales and investment all slowed, as did bank lending which slumped sharply last month.

The June quarter earnings reporting season will ramp up in Australia this week as the season offshore slows again. Last week produced some average results and updates – the Commonwealth Bank, the ANZ and Westpac come to mind.

A mixed end to the week for sharemarkets on Friday here and offshore.

Believe it or not but Saudi Arabia, which flooded the world oil market in July with a record 10.87 million barrels a day, now claims that major producers will need to move to steady the market at a meeting next month.

As expected, the Reserve Bank of NZ has cut its key interest rate by 0.25% to a new record low of 2%, and warned that more cuts will happen in coming months.

Australian business conditions and confidence both weakened in July and looking out to 2018, the National Australia Bank believes the Reserve Bank will have to cut rates twice to soften the blow from growing long term risks and persistently weak inflation. The forecast represents a major change of heart by the bank which has not seen the need for more rate cuts from the RBA.

Despite the weak trade data for July (especially the 12.5% slide in imports in the month from a year earlier), there are now clear signs that the bout of intense price deflation which has hit the country’s huge manufacturing sector is about to fade away.

The 12.5% slump in China’s imports in July from the same month in 2015 can’t be blamed on weaker commodity prices, nor can it be attributed to the weakening value of the yuan, which eased a touch last month.

China’s trade performance disappointed for yet another month with another solid fall in imports which added to yet another slide in exports.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway saw its earnings and operating profit rise 25% in the second quarter, thanks to a combination of the positive impact of investment gains and acquisitions which offset weak returns from its big railway unit and some parts of its manufacturing arm.

Global markets will start this week on an upbeat note after the surprisingly strong US jobs report for July sent share prices higher overnight Friday and early Saturday, our time.

China moves back to the forefront of global financial and business events this week with the usual flow of monthly economic data for July.

Crude oil futures trimmed losses on Friday, gold was easier, as were other metals as the market concentrated on the message from the strong July jobs report and the 255,000 new positions created (and the extra 18,000 for May and June).