Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow fell 117 points at 15,122, the Nasdaq lost 37 points at
3,437 an d the S&P500 shed 17 points at 1,626.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was recently down 208 points at 13,109 and the Hang Seng
off 260 points at 21,354.

WTI crude oil traded at $94.92 a barrel and Bent crude at $102.96.

Gold settled at $1,377 an ounce.

Goog hunting!

G.

JPY Core Machinery Orders m/m -8.8% -8.3% 14.2%

Japan's Nikkei slips but off day's low

(Reuters) - The Nikkei average slipped 0.2 percent on Wednesday, extending the previous session's decline on disappointment that the Bank of Japan offered no fresh measures to quell bond market volatility, which was sparked by its massive stimulus program in April.

The Nikkei .N225 ended 28.30 points lower at 13,289.32 after trading as low as 12,994.08. The index trimmed losses in the afternoon, with traders suspecting the central bank was buying exchange-traded funds to support the market.

The broader Topix .TOPX index eased 0.4 percent to 1,096.54.

German Final CPI m/m 0.4% 0.4% 0.4%

French CPI m/m 0.1% 0.3% -0.1%

FTSE 100 slightly lower in early deals ahead of UK jobs data

GBP Claimant Count Change -8.6K -6.8K -7.3K

GBP Average Earnings Index 3m/y 1.3% 0.3% 0.4%

GBP Unemployment Rate 7.8% 7.8% 7.8%

skinny, I think with your expertise in charts, you are
just the person to help out at the new GOLD thread.
Time we did have a proper thread devoted to the yellow stuff,
though it seems to be past its heyday, according to this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2013/jun/03/gold-bubble-bursts-nouriel-roubini

Interesting article - I'm no expert, except when it comes to posting them.

EUR Industrial Production m/m 0.4% -0.2% 1.0%

FTSE 100 rallies to sit modestly higher in midday trade

Severn Trent deal blow hits "merger arb" funds

LONDON | Wed Jun 12, 2013 2:30pm BST
(Reuters) - Hedge funds that bet Severn Trent would agree to a Canadian-led takeover are reeling from losses after the water company refused to talk, casting further doubt on their money-making abilities in an anaemic M&A environment.

The LongRiver consortium walked away after the British utility let the bid deadline expire on Tuesday, ignoring an effective invitation to negotiate on price.

Boing! said Zebedee.

Oh good -):

FTSE 100 ends bumpy session firmly lower as rally stalls