A mixed but fairly sobering picture from the US tonight.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 32.73 points at 10,974.84, but well below its session high of 11,029. The Nasdaq Composite fell 3.35 points to 2,107.06, and the S&P500 was virtually flat, down 0.02 point to 1,240.12.
In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning down 47.42 points at 15,561.55, while the Nikkei was recently down 67.41 points at 14,581.
New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, was at $69.50 per barrel, up 16 cents from $69.34 in late trading in the US overnight. The July contract closed yesterday at $68.94.