Reuters – Volatility spread across stock and foreign exchange markets on Tuesday as investors eyed a Federal Reserve meeting expected to cut interest rates and hint at future unorthodox monetary policies to lift the U.S. economy.

European stocks reversed early losses to put in solid gains after better-than-expected euro zone manufacturing data. The dollar firmed against the euro after earlier hitting a two-month low.

Oil was trading below $45 but was supported by expectations that OPEC will agree its largest supply cut ever later in the week.

The Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates to just 0.5 percent or lower. Futures markets are setting a two-thirds possibility of a 75 basis points cut to 0.25 percent.

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Mining MX- The question as to whether the oil price has been driven higher by speculators is highly emotive. Many supporters of the idea want a clampdown on speculation while others say that would be dangerous and futile interference in the market. Oil-producing cartel Opec blamed speculators and a weak dollar for US$45 of the price when it hit $142/barrel.

The oil price has doubled in a year and at the time of writing was trading below its peak of more than $140/barrel. Opec’s views on speculation received support from a serious source: George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund manager who has himself profited massively from speculation in the past. Soros told a US Senate Committee last month that a massive bubble had built up in the oil market.

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