The early calm reaction by the London market to falls elsewhere seems to be over.
The FTSE 100 is now down 90.7 points at 4091.32, unnerved by a downturn in the US futures. Wall Street was initially forecast to open around 60 points higher, but now the futures are suggesting a fall of nearer 90 points.
Miners continue to be undermined by falling metal prices, with Antofagasta down 24.25p to 329p and BHP Billiton off 44p at 904.5p.
Among the financials attention has moved from hedge fund group Man, which has recovered 6.6p to 196.6p after recent analyst downgrades, to interdealer broker Icap. The company's shares have dropped 71p to 213.75p after Morgan Stanley downgraded both Icap and rival Tullett Prebon, off 18p at 153.75p. The bank said:
"We double downgrade Tullett Prebon [from overweight] to underweight (price target drops 65% to 245p) and downgrade Icap from equal-weight to underweight (price target cut 61% to 195p) as we expect revenue declines of 5-25% by product in 2009 following our work with heads of trading/sales and consultants, which drives a 26% cut in 2009 estimated earnings per share for both interdealer brokers."
