Morning Markets: FTSE defies Wall Street losses with modest gains

At 8.30 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.84%, or 43 points, to 5,188. Barclays and Lloyds are among the morning's high performers, up 2.76% and 1.77% respectively. International Power is up 2.36% But banking stocks are expected to feel the pinch after Standard & Poor's downgraded Britain's banking system and President Obama proposed radical reforms to the industry at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Tory leader David Cameron said he would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the US President and drive through reforms to the banking system should his party win power. Aerospace manufacturer B...