Gold prices fell further in early Asian trading Tuesday morning after a horror 18 hours across all trading timezones on Monday.

Sharemarkets settled last week in the wake of the Greek vote and apparent agreement to a new bailout and ended with some solid gains around the globe.

Gold underlined its unattractiveness for investors on Friday and last week.

Greece and China will remain in the background this week as interest turns to earnings around the world and the June quarter inflation data in Australia, while the Reserve Bank will be in the news.

Don’t underestimate the ability of the current US earnings season to provide a positive boost to US shares and investor confidence, especially the tech giants.

China’s June monthly and first half steel figures were nothing to boast about in yesterday’s production data, released with the GDP outcome. Nor did the coal production and imports data suggest the sector is going to improve.

China grew at a 7% annual rate in the June quarter, unchanged from the 7% annual rate in the first quarter and in line with the official government target? Really?

A further recovery in business conditions and confidence has again shown up in the latest survey of local business from the National Australia Bank.

So what message does the detail in China’s imports data for June and the June half year tell us?

The message from China’s trade data for the month of June and the six months to June 30 have one overwhelming message – an economy stumbling along in low gear.

Gold prices went nowhere last week, ending the week down half a per cent as the tumult in Chinese markets and the Greece-driven turmoil elsewhere left the metal unwanted.

Asian markets will feel the reaction from the latest from the Greece bailout talks later today, with Australia first to be hit.

And with China up, it’s no surprise that iron ore prices rebounded as well on Friday night – adding to the upbeat outlook for the local market this week.

The June 30 earnings season steps up in the US and Europe and kicks off in Australia this week. Most attention though will be on the US where the June quarter figures for some of the world’s major banks will be released.

China and Greece will dominate events around the world for yet another week – China for the continuing health of its markets, plus the vital June and June quarter economic data, and Greece because of the fallout from the latest bailout talks.

The Australian market should start on a mixed note this morning after the rout on China’s markets settled yesterday, other markets rebounded and iron ore prices jumped sharply.

Nothing in the June employment data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday to change anyone’s mind about the state of the economy – as the Reserve Bank has said, it’s sluggish and operating below trend.

Trading on the ASX will start lower this morning after another nervous night on world markets which saw that big sell off in China continue, some stability in Europe, but a nasty fall on Wall Street after the New York Stock Exchange was closed for three hours as technical issues hit two of its three markets.

Will the great China stockmarket rout continue today after another bruising day for mainland and Hong Kong markets that left investors wearing tens of billions of dollars of losses and the Chinese government with egg on its face?

European sharemarkets fell, Wall Street finished higher from its lows and commodity prices sold off for another day – and finally the dopey Australian investors focuses on the real threat to local share prices.

The Reserve Bank left its cash rate at a record low of 2% for the second month in a row yesterday, but has left the door open for another rate cut. But that is highly unlikely at this stage.

China is becoming a joke as the government tries hard to avoid losing control of the rout which continued to batter the country’s stockmarkets yesterday.