US politicians may have voted in favour of a debt deal to avoid the country defaulting, but markets are still finding the going tough.
Apart from the suspense of waiting for America's cherished triple A credit rating to be downgraded, investors are also worried about the latest developments in the Eurozone, notably soaring Italian and Spanish bond yields.
There is a mixed bag of US economic news, with consumer spending dropping in June for the first time in nearly two years, but inflationary pressures easing as petrol prices declined. After Monday's disappointing manufacturing figures and Friday's weak GDP numbers, traders will be watching the non-farm payroll numbers carefully on Friday. According to a Reuters survey non-farm payrolls are expected to have increased by around 85,000 in July.
Meanwhile Wall Street is down nearly 60 points in early trading, while the FTSE 100 has lost 30.06 points to 5744.37.
