The December half profit reporting season finished Friday, except for some stragglers today and tomorrow like transport group, Asciano which is out today and could see the debt-ladened stock become the latest fancy of hedge funds and other speculators looking for a quick profit.

The Australian sharemarket tumbled by as much as 3% on Monday on the back of growing concerns about the US economy as well as the much anticipated interest rate rise tomorrow.

Small capitalisation company, Staging Connections (STG) was amongst a number of businesses rushing in to disclose their interim results after the last day to lodge ended on Friday.

The Aussie dollar is off again, charging towards parity with the sinking US dollar (or is it more a case of the US dollar falling towards us?)

I suppose any straw is better than no straw at all and that’s what some of the few remaining optimists among US economists and commentators were grabbing for yesterday with confirmation the US economy had not improved in the December quarter.

So with investment booming, the housing industry has been left behind, as we have seen in the building approvals for December and in the detail in the housing finance statistics.

Not only is the Aussie dollar soaring again (see story below) because of rising commodity prices, but it’s also reflecting higher interest rates, which in turn are reflect the Reserve Bank’s attempts to slow a booming economy.

Aussie stocks fell more than 1% today, pulled down by a weak lead from Wall Street, the banking sector and investor concerns about the Reserve Bank’s meeting next week.

Sometime in the next 24 hours figures will be released in the US confirming that the country has fallen into the grip of stagflation.

Australian share market finished 2% lower today, pulled down by banking stocks as next week’s Reserve Bank meeting looms closer with the possibility of an interest rate rise.

Forget the headline from the December housing finance figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing an 0.1% (seasonally adjusted) rise in finance commitments for owner-occupied housing.

The Australian stocksmarket will hopefully have a better day today after Wall Street shook off the blues from Europe and Asia to close quietly with small gains.

No relief on interest rates for at least two years and there's every indication we could get one or two more rises from the Reserve Bank if inflation doesn't behave.

Resource Pacific and Allegiance Nickel are maintaining their determined bids to remain free of bigger predators.

It won't be the most confident of starts today for markets, although rises Friday night in the prices of lead, copper, wheat, sugar and oil will help offset an easier tone from US and worries in Europe about corporate debt defaults.

A hard week to work out the order of importance of announcements. In Australia we have the 2007 interim and full year reporting season well under way and in the US some vital figures will flesh out the picture of what seems to be a sliding economy.