Yesterday's good news on the US service sector was certainly - as expected - a blip.
Any optimism was doomed to be short-lived especially as the housing market continues to crumble.
Lo and behold, the next stab of bad news came this afternoon after the Mortgage Bankers' Association revealed that foreclosures in the US hit a record high in the fourth quarter.
The Dow dutifully tanked 1% following the news to 12,131.41 while across the Atlantic, the FTSE 100 also appeared to take a hit from the figures extended losses to drop over 80 points to 5772.5
