Monday lunchtime business bulletin
Stock markets began a second week of turmoil today as lingering fears over the US economy weighed on the FTSE 100 Index.
The London market was 107.2 points lower at 5761.8 by mid-morning - a fall of almost 2% - as leading shares followed Asian markets lower.
After a late plunge in US markets on Friday, Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were both nursing 4% falls, with China’s Shanghai exchange down 7%.
The volatility is likely to continue later today with futures markets indicating further falls expected on Wall Street when trading begins this afternoon.
A second major financial player has signed up former prime minister Tony Blair as an adviser, it was revealed today.
Mr Blair will assist Swiss financial firm Zurich on "developments and trends in the international political environment".
The appointment comes less than three weeks after the ex-premier took on a similar role with JP Morgan, one of Wall Street’s biggest investment banks, worth a reported £500,000 a year.
The UK’s biggest pubs operator could shell out £300m to pay its way out of a disastrous bet on interest rates, it was reported today.
Mitchells & Butlers, which runs chains including All Bar One and O’Neills, hedged against rising interest rates last summer as part of a £4.5bn property deal with entrepreneur and major shareholder Robert Tchenguiz.
But potential investors pulled out following the credit crunch - causing the plans to be shelved - and with interest rates now on the way down, the group may cut its losses, the Guardian said.
The pound at noon was US$1.9800 compared to US$1.9796 at the previous close while the euro at noon was £0.7425 compared to £0.7413 at the previous close.
Share
