Stocks flat overnight after previous nights gains

US markets were quieter as the ongoing debt ceiling concerns and European Sovereign Debt crisis work their way through the system. The House of Reps has passed a debt ceiling bill with conditional cuts on spending. However analysts are not certain that the bill will pass the Senate in its current form

German Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy met in Berlin to discuss possible solutions to the debt crisis enveloping Greece. Merkel moved quickly to dampen expectations by saying that the meeting will not provide a “spectacular” solution that will solve the problems facing Greece and the EU

Yesterdays positive New Home Starts data has lost some of its sheen with Existing Home Sales data falling for the third consecutive month overnight. Sales fell from 4.81 million to 4.77 million with the consensus for a rise to 4.90 million 

US financials rallied overnight after some of the majors reached year long lows in recent trading. The KBW Banking Index rallied by 1.45% to 46.92 after strong performances from GS, BAC, C, JPM and WFC 

Stocks that led the moves on the Dow were BAC, BA, UTX and MSFT with BAC and UTX rallying 2.93% and 2.18% respectively. Leading the losses were UTX and MSFT falling 1.80% and 1.74% respectively 

Dow –15.51 pts, NASDAQ –12.29 pts and S&P500 –0.89 pts 

USD lost ground against the EUR, GBP found strength and the AUD was quiet 

Gold again rallied above the USD1600 level and Crude rose 0.7% to USD98.14