Stock Market Update - Tues 12May09

The FTSE has a mediocre day, ending the session slightly lower

The bigger blue chips gave the FTSE little reason to celebrate as the session ended down a little after some cautious trading. The banking and mining sectors performed poorly, with this knocking the positive effect from the hotel sector and food retailers. The FTSE 100 closed down about 10 points at 4,425, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up over 13 points at nearly 7,624, and for those that are interested the FTSE Small Caps closed down nearly 14 points at 2,312.

Over the pond, US stocks opened positive but then fell away as bearish sentiment outweighed the false optimism. General Motors and Ford are not helping anything at the moment, with poor news and feeling about the US car industry becoming a millstone. By the time London closed, the DJIA was down 18 points to 8401, the S&P500 down nearly 6 points 903, and the Nasdaq down nearly 22 points at 1,709.