FTSE ahead but A&L slides on poor results

A&L says mortgage balances at 30 April were £1.5bn lower than at 31 December 2007, while gross lending in the same period was £2bn lower than in the first four months of 2007. Alliance & Leicester is 5% lower to 485. Security firm Group 4 Securicor, or GFS, is down 3.54% to 231.50 even though it reported solid March results. TUI Travel is leading the gains after seeing summer sales increase, up 3.95% to 269.50. Rival Thomas Cook is up on the positivity, 1.62% ahead to 283. Imperial Tobacco is also having a good morning, 1.96% higher to 2549. In New York, the markets hit back on Mond...