Once again, concerns out of the eurozone saw US indices close modestly lower, although they did manage to rally significantly from their session lows.

Financials finally managed a bounce as Senators narrowly missed a key procedural motion that would have set the stage for enactment of a sweeping bank reform bill by the end of the week.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ was the biggest decliner, losing 0.8% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% and the S&P 500 0.5%.

In Asia, regional markets are all lower on the back of continuing Eurozone concerns and slower-than-expected growth in Japan. The Nikkei is the worst performer, down 1.3% while the Kopsi, Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng are down between 0.3% and 0.6%.

In Australia, the ASX 200 is 1.1% lower at 4337.7 after a volatile morning session following threats towards South Korea of ‘full-scale war’ from the North after international investigators said it was a North Korean torpedo that sunk the South’s warship in late March. The market traded from an early high of 4404 to a low of 4345 before partially recovering, only to sell off again in the last hour. Industrial, financial and consumer discretionary names are doing most of the damage as offshore investors continue to offload positions.

After Tuesday evening’s surprise move by the German regulator, equity markets across the globe saw something of a shake-out leaving the major European indices all nursing triple-digit losses yesterday. However, early indications are that the bout of panic selling may be over after Wall Street rebounded off mid-session lows and, although the risk remains that the markets could still be in for further surprises, for the time being we may be able to get back to focusing on short-term fundamentals.

This morning’s UK retail sales figure will be closely watched amidst expectations that the number could dip into negative territory, whilst earnings news in London is expected from names including SABMiller and Mothercare. In the US, clothing retailer Gap continues the sector’s reporting season before the open whilst after the close, earnings from Dell may again offer traders something to work on. There’s no certainty that the sell-off is behind us and global confidence in Europe still remains rattled, but the sell-off has to find a floor somewhere.

Ahead of the open we’re calling the FTSE up 22 at 5180, the DAX up 31 at 6020 and the CAC up 13 at 3525.