MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Oil prices were little changed in early trade on Thursday, sitting near multi-week lows hit overnight on worries about fuel demand due to a patchy U.S. economic recovery.

LONDON/TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Factories across Europe, Asia and North America continued to shake off the coronavirus gloom in August as the global economy emerged from a downturn triggered by the health crisis, thanks in part to massive fiscal and monetary stimulus programmes.

The economic activity in the US' manufacturing sector expanded at a stronger pace in August than it did in July with the ISM's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) climbing from 54.2 in July to 56. This reading marked the highest print since January 2019 and came in better than the market expectation of 54.5.

TOKYO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Japanese shares rose on Wednesday after positive data on the U.S. manufacturing sector spurred hopes of a global economic recovery remains on track to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today the world’s leading chief financial officers have a more positive outlook for China’s economy than they do for the economy of the United States. The Q3 CNBC Global CFO Council Survey revealed on Friday. That is the first time in the survey’s history that this elite corps of executives were more upbeat on China.

China’s auto market is expected to post further growth in September, according to a report by the China Automobile Dealers Association.