Retailer Debenhams has seen its shares fall sharply in the last half an hour or so. They are now down 12% having dropped more than 17% at one point, to stand at just 42.5p.
Traders reported unsubstantiated talk of a possible bankruptcy in the consumer sector over the weekend, which has helped undermine sentiment.
"Debenhams is an easy target to hit, since it has a lot of debt," said one dealer. "The fall looks a bit overdone, but it is not a stock you want to be long of for any particular length of time."
The retailer, which is under pressure from the likes of Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and even discount business Primark, has nearly £1bn of debt. With all the worries about heavily indebted companies and their banking covenants - such as housebuilder Barratt Developments - Debenhams does indeed look vulnerable to speculation.
Meanwhile there are also suggestions of poor trading at Marks, down 4.5p to 337.5p, prompted by news it is issuing 1 million vouchers giving 20% discounts in an effort to boost sales.
So much for yesterday's buoyant official retail sales figures which, to be fair, very few commentators took at face value.
