Worries that the eurozone crisis would damage the rest of the global economy - as evidenced by comments from the Bank of Japan and Bank of England - have sent Wall Street lower at the open.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down around 120 points in early trading, while the FTSE 100 is currently 17.24 points lower at 5500.20 and Germany's Dax has slipped around 1%. In volatile bond markets, Italian yields rose sharply higher again after the country said it would not release third quarter GDP figures until December, but they have now fallen back after Mario Monti finally unveiled details of his cabinet.
Meanwhile some better than expected US data seems to be limiting the damage a little. US consumer price inflation dipped by 0.1% in October compared to forecasts of a flat reading, helped by lower energy and petrol prices. Meanwhile industrial production rose by 0.7% last month after falling 0.1% in September, with particularly strong car production figures. Annalisa Piazza at Newedge Strategy said:
Today's industrial production figures, coupled with the modest improvement in business confidence indicators, suggest that industrial activity is set to remain on a moderate upward trend in the fourth quarter.
