Wall Street did indeed open about 200 points lower, but it did not stay there long. The decline accelerated as fears of recession took hold of investors.
Boeing's third quarter fall in net income saw its shares tumble around 7%, while banking group Wachovia - in the process of being bought by Wells Fargo - announced a $23.9bn third quarter loss after an $18.7bn write-off. The loss is the biggest recorded by a banking group in the credit crunch so far.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is now down about 330 points and has pulled the FTSE 100 176.81 points lower at 4052.92.
Miners are still among the major fallers - a global slowdown will hit demand for metals, so Kazakhmys is off 44.5p at 260.5p.
The London Stock Exchange is also under pressure, on competition fears following news that American clearing house DTCC is to take over London-based rival LCH.Clearnet. LSE shares fell 63.5p to 522p on worries that the new entity would be able to undercut the company.
