Economics / Markets

The FTSE100 is sharply higher this morning after an extraordinary late surge on Wall Street drove the Dow Jones IA 6.67% ahead on Thursday.

The FTSE has climbed 9.76 points (0.23%) to 4191.78, despite disappointing losses in US and Asia overnight.

The FTSE is currently down 32.50 points (0.77%) to 4214.19 after the Bank of England's gloomy forecast .

The FTSE was approaching a 2.5% drop in early trading on Tuesday after poor UK house sales data hit confidence and Morgan Stanley lowered its growth estimates for the Euro area.

Shares on London's leading stock exchange rose on Friday as the Bank of England's 1.5% base rate cut filtered through, but US stocks tumbled and Asian markets saw mixed results.

A brief market rally on the UK interest rate cut failed to materialise into a substantial recovery this afternoon, with the FTSE100 diving sharply once again on Wall Street's opening decline.

The Bank of England has dramatically cut interest rates by 1.5pc to 3pc in a bid to ease the economic slowdown.

Recession remains more likely than a 1930s-style depression, but it could be deep and protracted, according to Barclays Wealth's head of research and investment strategy, Michael Dicks.

The Dow Jones dived nearly 200 points in early trading today as the jubilation surrounding President-elect Barack Obama failed to fire Wall Street.

UK industrial and manufacturing output fell further in September, according to the ONS.