The euro dollar exchange rate is 0.62% lower on the day at 1.4419. The euro pound exchange rate is 0.19% higher at 0.8861. The US dollar has gained some ground at the start of trade on Wall Street. Wall Street opened lower as traders cashed in on gains following a strong rally in the last session and mulled a stronger dollar and concerns over the housing sector. Despite Tuesday's weakness, the markets have been zipping higher in the last week; indeed the blue chips have soared 6.7% in the last six trading sessions alone as of Monday's close. Stocks still have a long way to go to recover from an enormous selloff at the beginning of the month, but the Dow is only 7.6% off its low of the year, and less than 40 points away from breaking even for the year. Yesterday trading volumes in American equity markets were thinner than usual on Monday as the North East recovered from the impact of hurricane Irene. The strong rally for benchmark indices is coming under scrutiny on Tuesday with pre-market index futures putting a large dent in gains of the previous session. The US dollar strengthened on Tuesday as risk aversion rose with its index against a basket of major trading partners higher by -.5% at 74.03. The Federal Reserve will later today release minutes from its August meeting at which the statement was reworded to make plain that short-term interest rates would remain unchanged for two further years.

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