It's not only gloomy outside.
It's also cloudy in financial markets -which are expecting the US Federal Reserve to give them a boost this afternoon by announcing further measures to spur growth.
The US central bank is expected to announce it will expand its Quantitative Easing policy, or the printing of money to buy bonds in the market, creating demand, pushing up prices.
The US dollar gained 0.3% against the euro, trading at $1.3172, and 0.5% against sterling, valuing the UK currency at $1.5806.
The US Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) will not announce its decision until 7.15pm BST.
"The market is definitely getting excited about the imminent prospect of fresh stimulus," said Jim Reid, credit analyst at Deutsche Bank. "Although we think that the Fed will eventually need to step up its QE efforts, the market may be getting ahead of itself in terms of timing. Will they really change things at a one-day meeting in the dog days of August?"
Economists speculate the Fed could cut its growth forecasts for the US economy today, paving the way for further QE measures at its next meeting in September, Reid said.
The FT-SE 100 was 16 points down, or 0.3%, to 5,394 points.
