Leading shares have fallen sharply after the grim US jobs figures announced at 1.30pm UK time.
About 533,000 Americans lost their jobs last month, much higher than the 340,000 expected by most analysts and even worse than the most pessimistic of forecasts. And with thousands more jobs cuts already announced in December, not to mention the crisis in the US car manufacturing industry, this will surely not be the end of it.
So the FTSE 100 - down about 54 points before the jobs announcement - is now 109.87 points lower at 4053.74. And Wall Street has not opened yet. The futures are now forecasting a fall of 150 points on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
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