Downgrades damaging early FTSE

Carnival has continued its recent slide with ABN Amro cutting the cruise liner to from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’, down 4% to 1706. A Credit Suisse downgrade to ‘neutral’ has also hit Land Securities, currently 3.18% behind to 1341. British Land is also lower, down 3.09% to 768.50; while homebuilders are falling once again, Persimmon is 3.09% lower to 400.25. The only stock to gain any sort of meaningful ground is Carphone Warehouse, currently 1.25% higher to 222.25. In New York, financials struggled on Tuesday after Goldman Sachs predicted US banks would need to find a further $65bnto cover los...