Many U.S. traders take the end of August off, and some stay out until Labor Day, after which children in the northeast U.S. head back to school. That’s another way of saying it will be all hands on deck at trading stations around Wall Street today. Action stations could mean big trading action.

Yesterday’s action in global markets was negative, as China’s Shanghai stock index fell 2.52%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.25%. Japan’s Nikkei, benefiting from a weak yen, was up .36%. The French CAC-40 was down 2.25%, the German DAX was up .7%, and England’s FTSE was up .52%.

Changes in the value of stocks is often reflected in changing values of currencies, and yesterday people around the world were buying dollars. The Chinese Yuan was down against the dollar, to 6.37, the Japanese Yen dropped against the dollar to 119.36, and the Euro fell to 1.17 to the dollar.

In the commodity pits West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil, the primary U.S. grade, will start today at $44.26, and Brent oil at $47.63. These prices are considered below replacement costs, at least for U.S. producers. They will be looking for sustained higher prices before investing in new production.

Is This The End of Austerity?

The big news of the weekend is the possible end of austerity in Europe, caused not by domestic political pressure but external pressure from a flood of refugees from the Syrian civil war. Their fate dominated news headlines, with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, offering the quote of the weekend, “Without human rights we are lost.”

Wherever the migrants land, they will need services, and services will cost money, money that has to be taken in taxes or released through central banks, weakening local currencies. The refugee crisis could make a continued commitment to policies of fiscal discipline impossible, and that might actually benefit markets, as many critics have charged that German austerity was hindering global growth.