US stocks ended slightly lower tonight after a raft of upbeat economic data offered only a temporary boost to the market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2 points at 10,888. The Nasdaq Composite fell 6.5 points to 2,232 while the S&P500 ended virtually unchanged, up 0.02 points at 1,257.48.
In Asia today, the Nikkei just closed down 55.55 points at 14,872.15, while the Hang Seng ended the morning session up 8.13 points at 15,036.89.
Oil prices continued to slide with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January dlwn 42 cents to $56.08 a barrel from its close of $56.50 in the US where it had lost 86 cents overnight.