By Mike Dolan

LONDON (Reuters) – What matters in U.S. and global markets today

By Mike Dolan, Editor-At-Large, Finance and Markets

Global stocks pushed higher on Tuesday as U.S. rate cut fever built and a wave of European merger activity helped offset the week’s political upheavals in France and Japan.

With U.S. long-term bond yields sliding to four-month lows on Monday ahead of the week’s big debt auctions, the dollar fell to a seven-week low as expectations of big downward revisions to U.S. jobs data through last March reinforced bets on deeper Federal Reserve rate cuts. U.S. stock futures nudged higher, after the tech-heavy Nasdaq clocked a record close on Monday. Gold extended its record-breaking rally.

In today’s column, I discuss whether the ECB’s complex structure may shield it

See Full Page