Miners and Wall Street came to the market's rescue today. The FTSE 100 has ended 4.1 points higher at 6216.0, despite suggestions from the Bank of England's inflation report that there may be no more interest rate cuts for two years.
That would normally have sent shares tumbling, but a positive trading statement from Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation - a day after it dropped its bid for rival Kazakhmys - and talk of Chinese stakebuilding in BHP Billiton helped keep the leading index in positive territory. On top of that came better than expected US inflation figures, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average 120 points higher by the time London closed.
The dominance of the miners was shown by the fact that there was an enormous amount of downbeat news around the place even without the Bank's inflation report.
FirstGroup fell 6% to 561.5p after announcing plans to raise £236m to fund US expansion, while Johnston Press - down 15% to 115.25p - and Bradford & Bingley - off 9% to 144p - both asked shareholders to put their hands in their pockets.
Other banks were weaker on fears of more cash calls, with Barclays down 10.5p ahead of its trading statement tomorrow.
And J Sainsbury slipped 15.25p to 374.5p despite reporting in-line profits, on concern about the weakening outlook for consumer spending.
Still, thanks to commodity corner, the market managed to shake all this off. But quite how in touch with the real world this makes it is a matter for debate.
