OREANDA-NEWS. August 17, 2011. US stocks declined on Tuesday with Financials (-1.83%) and Basic Materials (-1.78%) as the leaders. S&P 500 index declined by 0.67%, Russell 2000 Index – was down by 1.93%. EURUSD finished the day near 1.44. The economic data were neutral. Housing starts declined 1.5%, widely meeting consensus forecast of 600K.

Industrial production was up by 0.9% vs consensus forecast of a 0.5 rise while June figure was revised to 0.4% from 0.2%.

The euro-zone summit results were disappointing – the French-German leaders failed to generate any sound initiatives to support the financial system of the Euro-zone in the case of emergency.

Asian markets closed flat on Wednesday. Hang Seng was up by 1.29%, Nikkei – lost 0.55%. S&P/ASX added 1.28%. Shanghai stock indices lost on average 0.3%. Kospi added 0.68%.

The European stock indices futures were lower in the morning - Dow Jones Stoxx 50 futures lost 0.65% while Dax futures declined by 0.54%. S&P futures lost 0.13%.

Euro-zone CPI (09:00 GMT) will be in focus in the Eurozone today.

In the US, PPI index at 12:30 is to be released.