There has been a little flutter of nerves in brewer Scottish & Newcastle. This was partly due to news from rival SABMiller that it had seen a slowdown in beer volumes in the third quarter, but there were also some jitters over the proposed Carlsberg/Heineken takeover bid.
The predators have a put up or shut up deadline of Monday, and at one point today S&N shares dropped below 700p on fears they might pull out. The offer price, remember, is 780p a share. S&N has since recovered some ground but is still down 7p at 719p.
With Morgan Stanley's positive note on property continuing to support the sector, housebuilders have been lifted by better-than-expected first half home completions from Barratt Developments, up 44.5p to 407.25p. As a result, Taylor Wimpey is 12.4p higher at 177.2p while Persimmon has risen 32p to 762p.
The rise in the FTSE 100, however, has not lasted long. It is now down 23 points at 5919.9. US futures have fallen back - although an opening rise is still predicted - after Merrill Lynch repored a $9.8bn loss in the fourth quarter. All eyes will be on Ben Bernanke's speech, due in a couple of hours or so.
