The economic powerhouse that is China is having a bad time of it lately. The main stock market was suspended automatically before the end of play in the first full trading day of 2016, to avoid a larger slide than the 7% already registered, after a brief halt in trading failed to take the heat out of the selling.

Tension in the Middle East tends to lead to higher oil prices and we have that, with Saudi Arabia at loggerheads with Iran over the Saudi execution of a Shia cleric on Saturday, that has since led to the Saudi embassy being attacked and torched in Iran.

Manufacturing output in China is forecast to shrink in early 2016 another contributing factor in the local stampede out of Chinese stocks.

There may well be a knock on effect in Europe and the US, caused by both of the above early negatives. However the world is not short of oil and the traditional slow start to any new year can exaggerate the effect of moves in either direction. Oil may move higher in the very short term but not enough to cause the energy companies to raise prices, though they would dearly love to do so and are certainly looking for any excuse to send consumer bills higher.