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“A name like Wal-Mart today is part of what keeps the market kind of range bound, there are just too many companies with global businesses that are not really firing on all cylinders and then you throw in moves in China”.

The drop by shares of Wal-Mart came after the company reported weaker than expected second quarter earnings and lowered its full-year guidance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 43 points, or 0.2%, to 17,503 at the open.

The People’s Bank of China insists there is no ground for sustained yuan depreciation, however a second consecutive daily devaluation would suggest otherwise.

China’s housing market continued to pick up in July with new home prices in an increasing number of surveyed cities registering month-on-month rises.

In euro terms, gold is holding its own at above €1,000 per troy ounce. The rand is expected to come under more pressure from inflation and retail figures for July due on Wednesday. In addition, auto sales have remained healthy, as has the housing sector.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation was slightly higher than expected in July, edging up from zero in June due to the weaker impact of summer clothing sales compared to previous year. She added that interest rates would have to raised well before inflation hits...

In other economic news, data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China showed that home prices in majority of the Chinese cities increased in July.

The BoE decided to keep interest rates at 0.5%, with minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting revealing a vote of 8-1 in favour of this decision.

The promise, which analysts said was designed to soothe investors’ frazzled nerves, came after the central bank’s shock devaluation of the yuan last week plunged global financial markets into turmoil.

“While U.S. crude oil production this year is expected to be 100,000 barrels per day less than previously forecast, oil output is still on track to be the highest since 1972″, said Adam Sieminski, Administrator with the EIA.

Although Rosenstein is the biggest new stake holder in the stock, but it is not the sole member who came in at a time when the company’s stock price was falling.

The transaction has many traits of a typical Buffett deal: he already owned a minority stake in Precision; he is a big believer in nuts-and-bolts industrial groups; and the company’s share price had come under pressure, falling by about a tenth.

What does it mean for those companies dependent on China?

In addition, the outage of a 290,000 barrel-per-day distillation unit at BP PLC’s Whiting refinery in Indiana was thought to reduce commercial crude demand, further adding to stockpiles.

At a press conference, he said he stuck to his personal view that the decision about when to start raising rates from 0.5 per cent now was likely to come into sharper relief at the turn of the year.