Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/SEVEN DEADLY…

The real possibility of the yuan weakening to the 7-per-dollar mark last seen in 2008, hangs over China, emerging markets and global equities. The thinking so far has been that the risk of capital outflows, along the lines of what happened in 2016, would dissuade Beijing from allowing such a slide in the currency. But more recently, weak benchmark yuan/dollar fixings, a drop in the trade-weighted yuan index to below 2017 lows, and a flurry of comments and measures from policymakers reveal both a sense of panic and determination to prop up the economy.

With third quarter economic growth slowing to crisis-era lows, no let-up in Washington's trade rhetoric and a stock market that's lost 28 percent since February, China has been forced to ease monetary conditions and is cajoling banks to lend to small firms. A weaker yuan would complement those stimulus efforts.

Yet a 7-per-dollar yuan would erode faith in the China's stability and possibly provoke more U.S. ire. And coming on top of rising U.S. yields, Brexit and Italian politics, it would add another layer of worry to world markets -- the last thing investors want to see.