WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar is slightly lower after European and US stock markets fell overnight.
At 0630 AEDT on Tuesday, the local unit was trading at 88.04 US cents, down from 88.16 cents on Monday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open lower after a flat performance on Wall Street and sharp falls on European markets following negative German business data.
At 0645 AEST on Tuesday, the December share price index futures contract was down 16 points at 5,422.
ELSEWHERE:
WASHINGTON, - The number of Americans signing contracts to buy homes ticked up slightly in September, as it remained difficult to qualify for mortgage financing.
FRANKFURT - German business confidence fell for the sixth month to a near two-year low in October, in another gloomy sign for the eurozone despite a reassuring health check on banks.
PARIS - Crisis-hit France, which has come under fire from the European Union for breaking the bloc's spending rules, has announced "new measures" and "clarifications" to its budget to reduce its deficit by 3.6 billion euros ($A5.0 billion).
MILAN - Italy is pledging "additional measures" to reduce its structural budget deficit by 0.3 per cent of GDP in 2015, after it was warned by the European Commission it risked breaching EU fiscal rules.
BRUSSELS - Britain must contribute an extra 2.1 billion euros ($A2.9 billion) to the EU budget or face fines, the European Commission has said after a furious David Cameron insisted that London would not pay.
RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's stock exchange is down, and its currency has fallen against the dollar in the first hours of trading following the country's volatile presidential race in which President Dilma Rousseff won re-election over her centrist, pro-business rival Aecio Neves.
LONDON - Mobile phone giant Vodafone says it is investigating allegations of tax fraud at its recently-acquired Spanish unit Ono.
JOHANNESBURG - Nigeria is taking Coca-Cola to court for allegedly refusing to comply with orders from the Consumer Protection Council over two half-empty cans of Sprite.
BERLIN - Five Amazon sites in Germany have been hit by fresh walkouts in a long-running pay dispute with the US online retail giant.
NEW YORK - US banana giant Chiquita has agreed to be bought by Brazilian juice exporter Cutrale Group and investment bank Safra Group in a $US1.3 billion ($A1.4 billion) deal.
STOCKHOLM - Swedish defence and security group Saab has announced finalisation of a contract for the supply of 36 Gripen NG fighter jets to Brazil in a multi-billion deal.
NEW YORK - Amazon has unveiled a new media stick allowing users to stream content to television sets, challenging Google's Chromecast device released last year.
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