US stocks ended lower tonight with the Nasdaq at its worst level in a month.
The Nasdaq fell 38 points to an unofficial close of 2,090, its lowest level since June 14th. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 120 points to 11,014, while the S&P500 slipped 14 points to 1,259.
In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning down 73.59 points at 16,448.62, while the Nikkei was recently down 125.51 points at 15,123.81.
New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, was at $75.23 a barrel, up 28 cents from $74.95 in late US trade.
Early broker notes:
ASTRAZENECA CUT TO 'NEUTRAL' VS 'OVERWEIGHT' AT HSBC
IG GROUP UPGRADED TO 'BUY' VS 'NEUTRAL' AT MERRILL LYNCH
BT GROUP DOWNGRADED TO 'SELL' VS 'NEUTRAL' AT GOLDMAN SACHS