Cheery results for a trio of US bluechip giants kept the Dow Jones in with a shout of posting positive gains for a fifth straight day on Friday.

The FTSE 100 was up in early trading Friday following an overnight rally in New York.

The Dow Jones slipped in early trading on Thursday after posting some of the biggest gains of the year just 24 hours earlier.

Roger Webb, head of credit portfolio management at Aviva Investors, will leave the company in the autumn.

IFAs are demanding help to access Exchange Traded Funds(ETFs)and more education about the vehicles as they expect their usage of the products to rise in the coming year.

The Dow Jones slipped in early trading as worries increased over earnings and the state of the US economy.

Miners were pulling the FTSE 100 down in early trading, despite having done well throughout the week on rising metals prices.