Footsie is set for a triple digit fall at the outset after US markets took a tumble yesterday following Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s appearance before Congress.
Bernanke hinted at a tapering off of the central bank’s quantitative easing (QE) programme. That was enough to send the S&P 500 index down by 1.11%.
Asian markets have also taken a battering this morning with Tokyo’s Topix index suffering its biggest daily fall since March 2011, while the Nikkei 225 is off more than 4%. Hong Kong gets off a little more lightly, with the Hang Seng currently down 2%.
Back home, the FTSE 100 index is set to open around 106 points lower at around 6,734, which should lead to City editors putting those “Footsie hits all time high” stories back in the drawer for the time being.
The corporate news agenda is busy, as it usually is on a Thursday. On the retail side, Mothercare and Halfords are scheduled to report, while for those of a boozy bent, lager brewer SABMiller and pubs group Mitchells & Butlers are set to serve up trading statements.