US blue chips are slightly down during morning trading after engine maker Caterpillar's profit missed estimates, offsetting strong performance from the GE conglomerate and positive reaction to last night's agreement on a Greek rescue plan.
The Dow Jones industrial average is down 0.51% or over 61 points to 12662, while Germany's Dax fell at one point to 7266 from yesterday's close of 7290, having started the day cheered by the European bailout. The French Cac is flat, up a mere 0.15% to 3822.
As the markets digest news from Europe, the banks and insurance groups which had led this morning's FTSE 100 rally are now among the top sliders. Barclays, Lloyds Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Old Mutual, Investec, Legal & General and Prudential are all among the top ten fallers, with Standard Chartered down nearly 2% to £15.97.
The FTSE 100 is up 0.35% to 5920. European bonds are sending mixed messages. The cost of borrowing for Spain and Italy has increased, with Italian two year bond yields showing the biggest rise, up 0.186 percentage points to 3.906%. The cost of borrowing in Greece, Portugal and Ireland fell, but remains at unmanageable levels, with Greek two year bonds down 6.720 percentage points to 28%.
