The FTSE 100 is at its lows for the day as Wall Street joins other global markets in the general decline on continuing eurozone worries.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down more than 150 points in early trading, with the doubts about Friday's European summit growing. A move by Intel to cut its fourth quarter revenue forecasts, which it blamed on supply shortages, has not helped.
So the FTSE 100 now 85.80 points lower at 5443.41, with Germany down 2.5% and France 2% lower. Italian bond yields are up at around 6.67%, not too far away from the 7% level which seemingly indicates bailout territory. All eyes are still on Standard & Poor's, which indicated it would review European credit ratings following the summit. Everyone is taking "review" in a negative way, of course. French president Nicolas Sarkozy earlier seemed to be preparing the way for the country to lose its cherished Triple A status.
