Moving into the final moments of trading, the FTSE is down over 3% on another disappointing day.

The UK's leading index has continued yesterday's downward trend, pushing through the 4000 mark for the first time this month. With the price of oil falling below the psychological $50 a barrel mark, industrial business led the decline, with miners particularly badly hit by the news. Eurasian Natural fell 18% while Rio Tinto had shed over 9% by 4pm.

Some slight respite for the FTSE came from British banks, with yesterday's decision by Lloyds TSB shareholders to rescue HBOS fuelling strong performances by both today. Lloyds gained just over 7% while HBOS rose 8%. RBS also put in a strong showing, up 8.5% towards the close of play. The FTSE rose slightly at midday as investors looked for a brighter start on Wall Street. However, the Dow plunged 2% in the afternoon session after US automakers failed to get a government bail-out and labour market fears increased, dragging the FTSE back down.

Despite the mini bank-bounce, there is still a real sense of gloom about the financial markets based on rising unemployment and falling profits. Data from America is continuing to paint a perilous outlook for the US economy in the long term dash; one that European indices often have little choice but to follow. For now, the overriding view is that the recession will be long and drawn out.

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