Dow Jones

The Dow Jones pushed ahead in early trade after its Labor Day recess, as the market reacted to Kraft's attempt to buy Cadbury.

The FTSE 100 extended gains this afternoon as Cadbury snubbed Kraft's £10.2bn takeover approach.

The FTSE 100 is being spurred forwards by Cadbury this morning on news the British chocolate maker has received a £10.2bn takeover approach from US goods giant Kraft.

US blue chips barely moved off the starting blocks in opening exchanges despite Government data showing US unemployment in August reached its highest level since 1983.

US stocks pushed ahead, buoyed by financials, despite a hike in jobless figures.

Positive US job figures failed to spur the Dow Jones in early trading on Wednesday.

Lloyds Banking Group is among the fallers in early trading on Wednesday on rumours it is close to securing a deal that will see some of its bad loans insured under the Government's asset insurance scheme.

Financials led the global economy into the downturn only to rebound strongly this year. But Emma Cusworth finds it is still unlikely to be smooth sailing

US blue chip stocks edged ahead in early exchanges today, echoing gains in stock markets across Europe and Asia.

Firmer commodity prices lifted mining stocks and led the FTSE higher on Friday following two sessions of losses.