By Greg Peel

The Dow fell 133 points or 0.9% while the S&P lost 0.7% to 1698 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.4%.

From the RBA minutes:

"The information to hand at the meeting was consistent with growth of economic activity remaining below trend over the next year or so before an expected pick-up. Inflation was expected to be consistent with the target over the next one to two years. Members noted two developments over the past month, namely the appreciation of the exchange rate and the pick-up in measures of both consumer and business confidence over recent weeks. It was difficult to know how significant the effects of either of these developments would be, partly because it was uncertain whether they would be sustained."

The RBA was on the horns earlier this month. The noted pick-up in confidence provides reason not to need to cut the cash rate further but the currency is just not playing ball. Like everyone else, the RBA board is uncertain of developments in the US, noting:

"In the United States, market reaction to the decision by the Federal Reserve not to scale back the rate of its asset purchases, together with the more positive Chinese data, saw the Australian dollar appreciate over recent weeks, although on a trade-weighted basis the exchange rate remained around 10