The FTSE 100 index is down about 81 points to 4,416 after the entire board went red on a steep drop in futures prices of US stocks because of expected interest rate rises, and geopolitical fears after this weekend's blowing-up of the Russian-imposed leader of Chechnya.
Making the news this morning is Marks & Spencer, whose chairman has been booted by the board because of failure to drop his other business commitments, including a private equity investment firm. M&S shares are down 3.75p to 273.25p as a result. British Airways leads the losers in percentage terms, down 13.5p to 253.75p as rising oil prices threaten to undo plans to cut costs and boost profitability. Vodafone is off by 4.75p to 134.75p after its biggest competitor in Japan NTT DoCoMo said increasing competition in that market would cut its profits this year. ITV is down 3.5p to 1...
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