FTSE Down Five Points After Greek Talks Break Down

In mid-morning trading the FTSE is marginally lower, down five points, after Greek talks broke down yet again last night.

Having stood their ground yesterday, markets are rather shakier this morning. Eurozone ministers once again failed to throw a deal together, as talks over the latest rescue plan for Athens fell apart. You might have thought that three years would be enough time to solve this crisis, but no, they have said they need more time to hammer out the details. The next attempt begins in six days, so we will just have to be patient for now.

Minutes from the Bank of England provided little excitement, with only one member pressing for a boost to the current QE programme. In corporate news, platinum miner Johnson Matthey had a difficult first half, as sales dropped, and it sees no respite in the second half of the year either, but caterer Compass is looking forward to another good year after making more than £1 billion in underlying pre-tax profits.

Last night in the US Fed chairman Ben Bernanke made a suitably doom-laden speech, saying that even a last-minute solution would be damaging due to its negative effect on market confidence. It is a warning that all should heed. US jobless claims and the Michigan confidence index will both appear earlier in the week than is usual, due to the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, and we expect US markets to open relatively unchanged this afternoon.