Europe

International equity markets seem to effortlessly surge to brand new record highs with each passing day.  As we note fairly frequently, declines have grown shallower over the past two years and the S&P 500 has now gone 246 trading days without trading more than 3% below its record high, the longest streak ever for the index, according to LPL Financial. Meanwhile, the S&P hasn’t had a decline of 10% or more from a recent peak since February 2016.

 It’s not received much attention, but global butter prices have roughly tripled since Summer 2016 as production cuts have hit supply...

With a full slate of central bank meetings, data (including payrolls Friday) and earnings next week there’s a little bit for everyone. On Thursday, according to Politico, we will also know who the next Fed Chair is as well as get a first look at a version of the House tax bill in the US, perhaps on Wednesday.

U.S. futures slid 0.2% as investors await a barrage of announcements including Wednesday's Fed decision, Friday's jobs report and, most importantly Trump's imminent announcement of who the next Fed chairman will be, although after the latest trial balloons, Jay Powell is now largely priced in. Asian equities edged modestly higher despite a tumble in Chinese stocks and bonds with Japan's Nikkei closing 3 points in the green, while European shares hold steady after concerns eased about the Catalan crisis with no notable developments over the weekend, pushing Spanish stocks and bonds higher.

The White House has denied reports that President Trump requested an unprecedented face-to-face meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September.