Banks are still jittery despite all the talk of the credit crunch perhaps nearing an end, and none more so than HBOS, the recent victim of a bear raid which drove its shares sharply lower.
Today it has fallen another 11.5p to 593p - and at one point was down as low as 578p - after comments from finance director Mike Ellis at a Morgan Stanley banking conference in London. He admitted margins were likely to continue to come under pressure during the rest of 2008 - not exactly an out-of-the-blue revelation, but enough to unnerve investors again.
Bradford & Bingley was also represented at the conference, and despite what was described as an upbeat presentation, its shares are 1.5p lower at 196.75p.
Overall the FTSE 100 has come off its best levels, but is still up 44.5 points at 5897.1. Wall Street has got off to an uncertain start following comments from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that a US recession was possible.
