Australia: The Australian Dollar has opened slightly lower today after losing more than one US cent due to an increase in risk aversion in Europe and the US, as evidenced by falls in the Dow Jones Industrial Average to as low as 9,938 on the release of durable goods orders and further evidence of weakness in the US housing market.

In a relatively quiet night in a trading sense, AUD/USD traded below USD 0.8800 before the turnaround in the US equity markets saw the AUD rally above 0.8800 comfortably.

AUD/EUR traded briefly below 0.6950 whilst AUD/JPY is hovering close to 75.00.

Today sees the release of Australian Capex data, which is expected to show an increase of 2%, a result mainly driven by machinery and equipment spending.

Today sees results from large Australian companies including Woolworth's, Santos, AGL and Toll Holdings with not too any surprises expected.

So the rollercoaster, within a 2-3 US cent range seems set to continue during reporting season and as further developments are announced regarding the US economy's condition.

Majors: As reported above, the tone of the markets was more pessimistic last night with disappointing US data reflecting the weak state of the US housing market.

A decline of 12.4% is huge, and with this, equity markets slid and bond markets rallied.

The US economy has scope to disappoint further it seems, with further releases this week in the form of initial jobless claims and revisions to second quarter GDP to be released.

EUR/USD grinded higher on strong German data but this gave way with the US news.

Spot gold rose to an 8-week high on safe haven demand, fuelled by investors fearing a slow down in the global economy.

Australia Dow jones