FTSE heads towards worst month since 1997

Continued falls in FTSE stock left the index of 100 leading UK shares down 63.40 points at 4,541.90 by the close today, meaning it is heading for the worst month since October 1997. Real pessimists are starting to talk about earnings grown not coming through until 2004, far later than the second half of this year that many companies still hold to as their forecast turnaround period. Biggest loser of the day was Sage, down 11.75p to 152p after the EC cleared Microsoft's acquisition of Navision, a competitor to the UK leader in small business accounting software. Dire statem...