All the latest economic and financial news, as world markets continue to gyrate amid fears over China’s economy * European markets sag after early rally * Stiglitz: China fears are overblown * Japan on brink of bear market * Oil falls though $28 after Iranian santions lifted 6.42pm GMT And on a final note, tough negotiations between debt-stricken Greece and its creditors over further cost-cutting measures has once again – alas - got off to a rocky start as the role of the International Monetary Fund comes under scrutiny. “It is very important that pensions are not reduced for a 12th or 13th time for social and economic reasons.” 6.17pm GMT AFTER A JITTERY DAY, EUROPE’S MAIN STOCK MARKETS ALL CLOSED LOWER TONIGHT. That extends 2016’s losses, but it’s a whimper rather than a rout. The absence of the usual bump in afternoon volumes from US investors left European stock markets a little sleepy on Monday as Americans celebrated Martin Luther King Jr Day. As has become the custom recently; it was the volatile price of oil that set the tone for equity trading. A bounce off the lows set in Asian trading for crude oil helped an encouraging start for European equities but as oil prices slid back, equities fell into the red. Continue reading...