Announcements of significant job cuts at major financial firms and
weakening earnings outlooks from several big retailers continue to
weight on the markets. UK stocks also under pressure after steeper than
expected fall in CPI at -0.2% m/m, +4.5% y/y -- the first annualised
fall since August 2007 and the largest since the current CPI data
series began in January 1997 -- in turn increasing fears about
deflation. CAC-40 is down 61pts (-1.92%), Xetra-DAX is down 91pts (-2.00%) and FTSE-100 is down 69pts (-1.67%).