June U.S. housing starts continued to the downbeat theme in the home-building sector. Starts were at an annualized rate of 549K compared to the 577K expected. May starts were also revised down to 578K from 593K. The latest figure is the lowest since October 2009. The forex market is in a risk averse mood. The U.S. dollar and yen are rallying on fears of economic slowdown due to soft corporate earnings. The main catalysts have been IBM and Texas Instruments. Both companies had disappointing results with IBM highlighting a decline in new technology services contracts. Goldman Sachs also badly missed estimates and Johnson & Johnson cut its full-year earnings forecast.