Where next for the FTSE? The Dow open is often referred to as providing a direction for the blue-chip index, and it has opened more than 300 points down. That is almost a 3% fall.
At the moment the FTSE 100 reaction is slightly more positive - we are down 4.3% now, or 225 points, at 5,064, having been lower earlier today.
The fall in the Dow, which is in line with expectations, seems to have put a bit of a floor under the FTSE price falls.
I mentioned earlier that we have been below 5,000 earlier this year, but we haven't finished the day under 5,000. The lowest closing price for the blue-chips was 5,007.20 on August 10 - not far away from where we are now.
