So far, so bad. Leading shares have lost pretty much all the gains they made yesterday, with the only bright spot being the oil sector.
That of course is hardly surprising, with the crude price heading towards $100 a barrel. BG is 2.5% higher at 997p, Royal Dutch Shell is up 1.5% and BP is 0.5% better. And that - aside from a recovery in Scottish & Newcastle - was that for the risers.
Inevitably banks were under pressure again, with Northern Rock down another 14%. The stricken mortgage bank said this morning it had received more offers - possibly from Cerberus and JC Flowers - but one of them was pitched well below yesterday's closing price. Meanwhile Jon Wood's SRM Global Master fund has edged its stake up from 6.17% to 6.44%.
Alliance & Leicester - which has been forced to dispel rumours about funding problems or a black hole in its accounts - lost another 5%. Things were not helped by the OECD saying the total cost of dodgy US mortgages could be $300bn. This is much worse than the US Federal Reserve's initial $100bn estimate, but better than Goldman Sachs' forecast this week of $400bn.
Buy-to-let lender Paragon, which revealed the scars of the credit crunch yesterday, fell another 25p to 100p. Credit Suisse today cut its price target for the company to 145p from 225p.
Part of the reason for yesterday's optimism in the market was the hope of imminent interest rate cuts, here and in the US. The case for an immediate reduction here was weakened this morning after Bank of England minutes showed a 7-2 vote in favour of keeping rates on hold this month.
Martin Slaney, head of spread betting at GFT Global Markets, said: "The closeness of the vote suggests rates will be kept on hold for a few more months as the Bank hovers in wait-and-see mode to monitor whether the negative effects of the credit crisis on growth are outweighing inflationary concerns over food and energy prices."
So by mid-morning the FTSE is sitting 90.8 points lower at 6135.7.
With Wall Street forecast to open sharply lower in its last session before Thanksgiving Day, the signs are not good.
David Buik at Cantor Index summed it up: "Fear, uncertainty, sub-prime lending, credit crisis, downgrading of growth in the US, oil towards $100 a barrel and sentiment shot to ribbons makes a rather toxic and unpalatable cocktail for investors to digest."
