FTSE 100 Down as Financial Crisis Continues

No Reprieve as FTSE 100 Drops

Despite an early morning rally, the FTSE 100 has dropped by more than 3 per cent, following the turmoil of last week's financial crisis.

The slump comes despite the European Central Bank’s announcement on Sunday that it intended to buy up government debt - a move designed to sure up confidence in the Europe’s major economies.

In Paris the Cac 40 indexes have also lost around 2 per cent, while Frankfurt's Dax is down by 3 per cent following early gains.

Spanish and Italian markets followed a similar pattern, as the Sovereign Debt crisis spread in from the European periphery.

Last week Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was forced to speed up austerity measures in the hope of balancing Italy’s budget, which currently has a debt running at around 120 per cent of GDP, while Spain is being mooted as the next country likely to apply for bailout funds.

In New York, the Dow Jones opened down, following Friday’s downgrading of the United States by ratings agency Standard & Poor’s. In Asia, the Hang Seng and Nikkei are also showing losses of around 2 per cent.

Today’s fall, the latest blow in the on-going crisis ravaging the global financial system, follows a week of substantial losses in which trillions of dollars were wiped from global markets with the FTSE dropping by 10 per cent and the Dow Jones dropping by almost 6 per cent.

Close

What's Hot