Economics / Markets

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones followed gains in stock markets across Europe.

In London, markets experienced strong, early growth, with banks and miners leading the pack.

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.

A ratings upgrade from Citigroup helped Schroders to a healthy gain early on Thursday, but the FTSE remains largely unmoved following yesterday's impressive gains.

The FTSE 100 this morning reinforced yesterday's gains as mining stocks continued to climb.

As US markets opened, the Dow Jones slipped slightly, down 0.03% to 8328.95 points following a strong rally yesterday on the back of hopes for an economic recovery.

Financials dominate the top spots on the Dow Jones this morning at the start of a week when a number of high profile earnings reports are due.

The number of profit warnings issued by UK companies in the three months to the end of June fell to the lowest level since the same period in 2003, a report shows.