Last night's session was fairly muted, with mild losses in Europe and a next to flat session for US markets. The Stoxx Europe 600 index declined 0.4% as Spain’s reluctance to ask for a full bailout and economic growth concerns weighed on sentiment.

Separately, data showed that German economic expectations rose in September but the increase fell short of forecasts. In London the FTSE shed 25 points (-0.4%) to settle at 5868, whilst the French CAC (-1.2%) and German DAX (-0.8%) were slightly weaker.

Stateside, the Dow Jones added just 12 points (+0.1%) to settle at 13565, whilst the S&P (-0.1%) and NASDAQ (-0.1%) were also little changed. The Dow rebounded from early losses to eke out a narrow gain, though most stocks finished lower as investors digested a downbeat earnings forecast from economic bellwether FedEx.

It was the fifth winning session in six for the Dow, with the index clawing back some of the previous session's 40 point loss.

Crude oil prices fell 1.4% to end at $US95.29 a barrel, while gold prices inched up less than 0.1%, to settle at $US1,768.40 a troy ounce. Copper fell 0.5 US cents (-0.1%), to settle at $US3.787 a pound.

The US dollar rose against the euro and the yen. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.808 per cent. Today's session will bring us the Melbourne Institute leading index, at 10:30am, AEST.

Morning Market Analysis: Flat Night is a post from: Australian Stock Report Market Pulse Blog