FTSE

The Dow Jones dived nearly 200 points in early trading today as the jubilation surrounding President-elect Barack Obama failed to fire Wall Street.

BT leads the floundering FTSE's decline, announcing an ‘unsatisfactory' performance in its Global Services unit, as the index falls 80.22 points (1.87%) to 4211.43.

The FTSE100 continued to climb through the afternoon as investors' spirits were raised by good earnings reports and a positive start to trading on Wall Street.

Trading in London remained weak as noon approached, with the FTSE100 down 154.4 points (3.98%) to 3,728.96 as economic predictions paint an increasingly gloomy picture.

The Dow Jones opened more than 5% down this morning as investors feared a lasting global recession following the release of poor economic data across Europe and Asia.

After a volatile start, the FTSE is just down 1.71 points (0.04%) to 4039.18 amid falls across Europe and Asia and a dismal day's trading in the US.

The FTSE100 has spent the entire day in decline as fears of a global recession and more losses on Wall Street spook investors.

Strong losses for the mining sector coupled with a poor start on Wall Street has smashed the FTSE100 this afternoon.

Shares in merger partners Lloyds TSB and HBOS suffered a shock drop in value in afternoon trading on the FTSE despite making positive starts.

The FTSE100 ticked above 4,000 once again this afternoon following a brief rally ahead of Wall Street's Friday session.