FTSE 100

Meteor Asset Management has dropped the ISA option from its new kick-out product over uncertainty about its eligibility.

Gilliat Financial Solutions has issued its latest FTSE Income Builder structured product.

The FTSE traded 56 points, or 1%, lower this morning at 5,705.49 after a downbeat assessment of the US recovery from former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.

Pietro Poletto, head of ETFs and ETCs at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) Group, talks to Emma Dunkley about why ETFs are ideal products for retail investors and how this investor base holds the key to the future

Broker downgrades and companies going ex-dividend pulled the FTSE index 25 points, or 0.4% lower this morning.

The FTSE 100 was marginally up in early trading, by 0.06% or 3.41 points to 5,748, only a few hours before the Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to call a General Election for 6 May.

The FTSE rose by 0.3%, or 14 points, to 5686.32 this morning, buoyed by fighting talk from British Sky Broadcasting.

Mining stocks led the FTSE 100 up 25.69 points (0.45%) to 5,736.35 in early trading after the weaker dollar boosted gold prices.

Telecoms groups and miners including Rio Tinto helped the FTSE 100 off to a good start, up 16.37 (0.29%) to 5,719.39.

David Chellew, head of market positioning at HSBC Global Asset Management, offers his top tips for choosing an ETF provider.