The Dow Jones industrial slipped 216.90 points, to 10,172.98. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 24.72 points, to 1,091.76. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 60.41 points, to 2,205.29.The Nikkei slipped 0.7 percent to 10,512.69. The Topx dropped 0.7 percent to 934.59.

Yesterday, the Icelandic media reported that Iceland is approaching governments regarding the possibility of mediating talks over the $5bn its owes to Britain and the Netherlands.Tomorrow, the BoJ will meet it is widely expected to leave rates unchanged and also to leave their lending programs as they are.

Due for release today is the AUD PPI q/q and the USD Existing Home Sales.

By Greg Secker