It is getting to the point where you don't want to look at the news, for fear of what might be there. Reuters is saying that the FTSE fell 0.5 percent early today "after hitting a fresh four-year low and adding to the previous session's dramatic losses".
As it so often does after a fall the previous day, the index opened higher, this time after the biggest single cut in Australian rates since 1992 lifted stocks in Asia and helped commodity and oil prices recover (there's another story).
But now taking the hit are UK and European bank stocks as reports of funding talks between the government and banks got the rumour-mill going. Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland dived to a 13-year low. They probably haven't put two and two together. Darling is off to Luxembourg today to meet the EU finmins - he probably needed an up-to-the-minute briefing.
At just before nine GMT the FTSE 100 was down 13.2 points at 4,576. But, if a week is a long time in politics, an hour is an eternity in the market in this current febrile situation and this information is already out of date. The market is currently undergoing a rally - but what goes up goes down and goes up ... and down.
CNN says the market is "spluttering". Is this is a technical term?
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