BA puts FTSE into a tailspin

British Airways, Europe's third-biggest airline, has dropped 1.6% to 356.75p after JPMorgan Chase cut its recommendation on the stock to “neutral” from “overweight.” HSBC, Europe's largest bank by market value, has lost 2.5% to 963p. The shares are trading without the right to a fourth-quarter dividend of 17.7p. Shares of Corus Group have also declined 2.9% to 91.35p, after climbing 8% yesterday on a report the UK's biggest steelmaker may have held merger talks with Russia's Evraz Group SA. In Japan the Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 129.32 points, or 0.8% to 16,495.48 at its slipping ...