FTSE 100

Wall Street shares were relatively flat in early morning trading as investors locked in profits as they await the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later today.

UK stocks continued to rise this morning with the FTSE 100 climbing 32.22 points (0.63%) to 5174.82 points in early trading.

The FTSE 100 slipped slightly this morning after Wall Street's recent rally stalled overnight.

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.

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.

As most of Europe seems to go on holiday in August, I was expecting the month to close without any big news in the ETF world. But in the last week or so of the month, two stories emerged that could have major long-term implications for the industry.

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

Lloyds Banking Group is among the early losers on Thursday despite reports it is considering a new form of capital to offer to shareholders in a bid to cut its use of the Government's insurance scheme for toxic assets.

The FTSE 100 has bounced back over 4,700 for the first time since opening this week, with mining stocks at the forefront of today's strong gains.

Northern Rock should not be allowed to complete a planned restructuring without paying financial penalties, Britain's building societies have told European competition regulators, on the grounds that the nationalised mortgage lender will otherwise have...