Economics / Markets

Early morning gains in financials were lost this afternoon as the sector sank 10.78%, dragging the FTSE 100 down almost 30 points (0.66%) to 4,119.8.

The FTSE climbed 73.15 points (1.76%) to 4,220.21 shortly after opening this morning as Barclays soared 19.80p (20.20%) to 117.80 on the back of claims its earnings will beat forecasts and the Government's plans to inject billions more pounds into UK...

The FTSE 100 made a rapid 1.5% gain in early trading on Friday as miners and banks made steady progress.

The FTSE 100 continued its seemingly inexorable dive toward 4,000 on Thursday as glum sales figures for Argos and Home Retail piled further agony on the retail sector.

The FTSE 100 dived 6% in afternoon trading on Wednesday as a result of glum retail sales data across the Atlantic.

The Dow Jones saw its fifth consecutive day of losses yesterday, falling 25 points to close at 8449, as investors were spooked by yesterday's speech by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke.

Mining stocks pulled the FTSE below 4,450 on Tuesday as Rio Tinto, Xstrata, Antofagasta and Vedanta Resources fell.

Leading fund houses welcomed the MPC's decision to cut interest rates to a record low of 1.5% last week but want the Bank to go further and drop rates to 0% in the next few months.

Consumer cyclicals boasted the largest sector gains in UK markets early on Friday, up 1.42% in the wake of several retail groups announcing surprising results.

UK markets continued to fall after yesterday's dismal trading on Wall Street, and the FTSE100 dropped 1.38% to 4,445.5 shortly before 2.30pm.