MORNING BID EUROPE-Time's nearly up for Hollande on jobs

* A look at the day ahead from European Economics and Politics Editor Mark John and EMEA Markets Editor Mike Dolan. The views expressed are their own.

LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Three Iranian-Americans arrived in Germany last night after leaving Tehran in a prisoner swap that followed the lifting of most international sanctions on Iran. The sanctions deal, which U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . President Barack Obama said cut off Iran's path to a nuclear bomb, could considerably reduce hostility between Tehran and Washington and spur the economy in the Middle East - and beyond.

In France, time is running out for President Francois Hollande to demonstrate he can bring unemployment down from the 10 percent-plus level where it has remained pretty much since he came to power. Holding himself hostage to fortune, Hollande has publicly stated several times he will not stand for re-election in 2017 if he cannot bring the jobless total down. Today he will use a speech to set out details of a cash injection intended to kick-start hiring, including subsidies for low-paid posts and training schemes.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) 's all symbolic but British lawmakers will launch into today's debate over whether to ban Donald Trump from entering Britain with undiminished gusto. This follows a public petition which collected 570,000 signatures in favour of the motion after Trump called for the Muslims to be banned from entering the United States following the Paris attacks in November. Ultimately, it is up to the government whether to bar him or not -- and Prime Minister David Cameron is against such a move.

MARKETS AT 0745 GMT

With Iran now back in the fold, oil prices remain in tailspin and Brent fell further overnight to as low as $27.70 per barrel before steadying - that's now down 26 pct since the start of 2016, a drop of 42 pct year-on-year and loss of 76 pct in just 18 months. A movement of this scale in such a short period of time in such a crucial macroeconomic and financial variable is 'once-in-a-generation' stuff.

Price-wise, oil is moving back to the 1990s and there's some real trepidation about the fallout. With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) the S&P500 off another 2pct+ on Friday ahead of the long US weekend and today's MLK holiday, January already shaping up to be one of the worst months for stocks since the credit crash seven years ago and the Vix is flirting with 30 pct again.

The fear is palpable - almost $6 trillion has been wiped off global equity market capitalization since the turn of the year, more than the combined annual GDP of Britain and France.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out the ongoing deflationary impact of the oil shock either - Fed rate rise expectations are evaporating already and we'll hear from the ECB's Draghi and BoE (Shenzhen: 000725.SZ - news) 's Carney this week too on just what the impact is for them too.

There's also clearly a huge dent to balance sheets of oil exporting countries and oil producing firms - with market emerging market budgets and currencies as well as the bonds and dividends of large oil and small shale firms alike under great stress. Oil sector junk bond spreads continue to balloon and oil-based currencies continue to plummet. The windfall benefits to consumer seemed to be largely absent still. But with investors clearly unnerved around the world about the oil collapse coinciding with the Chinese slowdown and the ripening of the U.S. cycle, talk of recession is back in the air. And when that sort of panic emerges, financial markets often stop acting as a reflection of the world economy and start becoming a driver and accelerator.

With China's yuan policy at the root of much of the recent ructions, Beijing's move today to levy reserve requirements for banks providing offshore yuan liquidity showed they are desperately trying to regain control of the situation. A rise in house prices in December also helped stabilize sentiment and Shanghai ended slightly higher on the day. Most traders are braced ahead of tomorrow's Q4 China GDP release and industry and retail numbers for December.

Market themes/events

European corp events: Investor (LSE: 0NC5.L - news) day updates from Adecco (VTX: ADEN.VX - news) , Prudential (SES: K6S.SI - news) , Accor (EUREX: 485822.EX - news) results

* US markets closed for MLK day

* Italy Nov trade

* Irish house prices

* Riksbank minutes

* Central and Eastern Europe central bank forum in Vienna, with host of regional central bank chiefs (Editing by Toby Chopra)