Once again Wall Street has helped reverse the FTSE 100's early trend. As on Wednesday, the UK index has gone into decline after the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell below the key 13,000 level
The impetus was a bigger than expected rise in US unemployment, rekindling fears of a recession in the world's biggest economy. Dealers believe the US Federal Reserve is now bound to cut rates at the end of the month, perhaps by 50 basis points. Service sector data due out soon should give more clues as to the state of the US economy.
So despite the continuing bid talk around Carphone Warehouse and a good performance from the oil giant, the FTSE 100 is down 74.1 points at 6405.3. Wall Street is around 125 points lower/
UK retailers are really being hit hard, with Kingfisher now down 6.5%, and Marks & Spencer and Next more than 4% lower. After a spate of analyst downgrades, a profit warning from Land of Leather was the last thing the sector needed. But that's what it got, and the company's shares have lost around half their value.
