Morning Call by Traders University

The FTSE 100 closed down 2.18 per cent. At closing time, the index stood at 3,830.09 a fall of 85.55 points. In a week that saw the index rooted below the 4,000 mark, it fell a total of 1.5 per cent - after seeing a fall last week of 7.17 per cent. Over February as a whole the index lost 7.7 per cent. Another bad week for the banks with Lloyds reporting £10 billion losses on its HBOS subsidiary – was down 22.27 per cent to 58.30p & Royal Bank of Scotland was down 20.00 per cent to 23.20p. Barclays slipped 17.35 per cent to 93.40p. The Dow gained 236.16, ending at 7,350.94. The Nasdaq added 54.11, to 1,441.83, while the S&P 500 rose 29.81 to settle at 773.14. Citigroup and Bank of America led the surge after Ben Bernanke said the government would not have to resort to nationalization to save the beleaguered banks. In Forex news and data on Friday the US Preliminary GDP q/q figure came in very low at -6.2% It is worth noting that although this is q/q data, it is announced in an annualized format (quarterly change x4). Neverleless, a fall of -6.2% in such an imortant indicator of economic activity, and therefore, health can not be ignored. The unemployment rate in the Eurozone also increased very slightly to 8.2% but remains high and could worsen over coming months. GfK Consumer Confidence in the UK improved slightly to -35 but is well below the zero watermark that tips consumer sentiment from pessimistic to optimistic. Important figures being released today for the UK so watch out around 9am -10am this morning We have the Halifax HPI m/m, Manufacturing PMI and Mortgage Approvals all being relaesed for the UK market. Also the ISM Manufacturing PMI figured due out in the US.