Global stock markets are continuing to slide as downbeat comments from the European Central Bank and a slightly disappointing US service sector figure have added to earlier concerns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is now down more than 160 points - a 1.2% decline - while the FTSE 100 is off 113.33 points at 5725.01. Only Shire, up 13p at £20.34 after a positive Morgan Stanley note, is in positive territory in the leading index.
France's Cac and Germany's Dax are both down around 2.3%. At the regular ECB press conference, its president Mario Draghi said there were still risks to the outlook for the European economy from the financial crisis and rising commodity prices.
Meanwhile the Institute for Supply Management said its US service sector index had fallen to 56 in March from 57.3 in February, and lower than the expected 57 reading.
Markets have been under pressure all day, following poor Australian export figures and hints from the US Federal Reserve there may not be any more measures such as quantitative easing to boost the world's largest economy. Last week the Fed's Ben Bernanke seemed to suggest the opposite, that more stimulus was on the cards.
The falls really accelerated, however, after a poor Spanish bond auction, the first since the country's austerity budget was announced amid a general strike.
