Well the buoyant opening on Wall Street did not last long.
After better than forecast US GDP figures came unexpected news of a slowdown in production and orders in the mid-west, according to the Chicago purchasing managers survey. That dented investors' optimism about recovery prospects, and sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average into reverse, with losses of more than 130 points.
So the FTSE 100 has lost its earlier gains and is now down 64.71 points at 5095.01. Still, this does not alter the fact the index is likely to record its best ever quarterly performance, buoyed by signs of recovery and the return of merger activity, such as Kraft's bid for Cadbury.
