The UK markets stuck up the proverbial two fingers to Moody's today as the banks which were downgraded by the ratings agency hardly moved and some even closed up on the day.
HSBC – downgraded for the first time in five years – closed up 0.6p at 560.8p, Lloyds Banking Group, up 0.2p, 0.6%, at 31.6p, Royal Bank of Scotland, unchanged at 241p, and Barclays down 1.6p, 0.8%, at 202.6p.
The biggest sufferers in a day of, well, not very much really, were the resource companies as the global economy continues its grinding slowdown.
Fresnillo, down 74p, 5%, at £14.39; Petrofac, down 67p, 4.7%, at £13.63; Tullow Oil, down 50p, 3.4%, at £14.44 and ENRC, down 14.3p, 3.3%, at 416.3p, were all among the biggest FTSE 100 fallers.
They were joined by Carnival, the world's largest cruise operator and owner of the doomed Costa Concordia, who posted a 93% drop in profits, due to rising fuel costs.
To the end of May the company made just $14m, compared with $206m a year earlier.
Shares were down 92p, 4%, at £22.40.
Elsewhere, some positive news for phara giant Shire, closing up 22p, 1.1%, at £19.70, but this was on the back of rival Pfizer failing to get a license for its latest drug.
The FTSE 100 closed down 53 points, 1%, at 5514, trading around the same place throughout the whole day.
Next week all eyes will turn to the latest European summit, but by the way the markets are barely registering to any announcements – whether from Moody's downgrading 16 banks worldwide, or the leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain holding a lacklustre press conference – don't expect much of a reaction.
