Emerging Markets

Oil futures settled lower Friday, deepening their loss for the week, as uncertainty surrounded a weekend meeting of major oil producers who are expected to discuss a proposal to curb crude production. December West Texas Intermediate crude-oil futures finished down $1.02, or 2.1%, at $48.70 a barrel. For the week, oil closed off about 4%, marking its first weekly decline after booking weekly gains for five straight weeks, according to FactSet data.

Without China’s contributions to growth, the global economy would be in a recession, writes Stephen Roach.

Emerging markets relying on commodities exports are running short of the dollars they need to buy food and other vital imports, writes Carmen Reinhart.

The entry of the yuan into the IMF’s special drawing right could generate a boost to global liquidity and add to China’s global economic clout, writes David Marsh.

The relentless rise in debt among China’s largest companies may eventually require a capital injection of nearly $2 trillion to clean up the banking sector, according to S&P Global Ratings.

Voters narrowly reject a peace accord between President Juan Manuel Santos and a Marxist rebel group that would have ended 52 years of conflict, a startling outcome that thrusts this country into uncertainty.

Trump’s populist campaign is fueled by working-class anger about unfair trade, an issue the Democrats need to reclaim, writes Rex Nutting.

Saudi Arabia has offered to cut oil production in a bid to stabilize the crude market, but only if Iran agrees to freeze output this year, Reuters reported on Friday, citing three sources familiar with the discussions. The offer was made earlier this month and comes just ahead of the closely watched meeting between major oil producers next week in Algeria. There has been a raft of rhetoric from OPEC producers that a deal to cap production could be reached at the meeting, but traders have still been cautious not to jump too deep into the oil market. Previous meetings to discuss an output freeze have ended with no deal and failed to prop up the struggling market. Iran has yet to accept or reject the offer from Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters. The Saudis are asking Tehran to freeze its production at the current level of 3.6 million barrels a day, in return for Riyadh to cut output to levels seen earlier this year. Crude oil briefly spiked to as high as $46.55 a barrel, but has since slipped back to $46.18. That's down 0.3% from Thursday's settlement. Brent rose 0.4% to $47.86, erasing an earlier loss.