London open: Footsie drops to 10-week low on US and Eurozone fears

The FTSE 100 sunk to a 10-week low in intraday trade on Thursday morning as worries about the US budget and uncertainty in the Eurozone continues to dampen stocks.The last time the Footsie closed lower was on September 5th when it finished at 5,658.Market chatter still abounds on the danger of the 'fiscal cliff' as the country's politicians prepare for talks scheduled for Friday to come to an agreement on how to deal with the budget deficit. President Barack Obama's administration and Republican lawmakers must come to an agreement in order to avoid $607bn in spending cuts and tax increases that, if not changed, will take effect on January 1st. On this side of the Atlantic, stocks sank yesterday after Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, said that Spain has taken "effective action" to reduce its deficit in 2012 and 2013, disappointing some who were expecting the government to request a bailout soon. However, Rehn did say that Spain could fall short of making its 2014 deficit.Meanwhile, Belgium's central bank governor and ECB governing council member Luc Coene has said that Greece will eventually need another haircut on its "towering debt".Economic data this morning is expected to see the Eurozone region slip back into its second recession since the third quarter of 2009. GDP for the single-currency area is forecast to fall 0.2% in the third quarter.In addition to the US 'fiscal cliff' and Eurozone concerns that continue to plague the markets, "the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas seems to be in danger of escalating causing additional uncertainty with investors fleeing out of stocks as a result," according to Markus Huber, head of German HNW trading at ETX Capital.In other news, Fitch Ratings last night raised its outlook for the Republic of Ireland from 'negative' to 'stable' to reflect its "continued progress with its fiscal consolidation, external adjustment and economic recovery, as well as the sovereign's improved financing options." FTSE 100: Resolution slumps on international concerns and IT costsLife insurer Resolution tanked after a somewhat mixed update, saying that new business profitability is continuing to improve, but that its international business is "below par" and it will incur higher costs from IT updates.Oil giant BP fell after announcing that it is close to resolving claims with US regulators relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. The resolutions are expected to represent the largest criminal penalty in history.Rexam, the consumer packaging giant, dropped after revealing weakness in its Healthcare division, despite a broadly 'in line' performance in the third quarter across the group.British Gas owner Centrica fell after saying that average UK residential gas consumption for the first ten months of 2012 was 9% higher than for the same period of 2011, while average electricity consumption was 1% lower. Sector peer National Grid was also lower despite saying that underlying pre-tax profit of £1,154m for the six months to the end of September was up 21% from £953m the year before.Copper miner Antofagasta was also down after a decline in copper and molybdenum prices partially offset the benefits of increased volumes in the first nine months of 2012.FTSE 100 - RisersEvraz (EVR) 221.80p +2.02%Xstrata (XTA) 958.80p +1.17%Vodafone Group (VOD) 162.55p +1.03%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 280.20p +0.90%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 665.00p +0.61%GKN (GKN) 203.90p +0.59%Barclays (BARC) 238.95p +0.55%BT Group (BT.A) 225.90p +0.40%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,182.00p +0.17%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 603.70p +0.12%FTSE 100 - FallersWood Group (John) (WG.) 799.00p -4.88%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 230.10p -3.92%Polymetal International (POLY) 1,096.00p -1.88%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,470.00p -1.60%Aggreko (AGK) 2,105.00p -1.45%Babcock International Group (BAB) 960.00p -1.34%Amec (AMEC) 1,042.00p -1.33%Old Mutual (OML) 167.40p -1.30%Serco Group (SRP) 544.00p -1.27%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 758.00p -1.24%FTSE 250 - RisersAtkins (WS) (ATK) 691.00p +8.31%Savills (SVS) 422.40p +4.53%Bumi (BUMI) 275.10p +3.65%Invensys (ISYS) 223.70p +3.56%Kier Group (KIE) 1,144.00p +3.44%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 538.00p +3.07%Ted Baker (TED) 988.50p +2.86%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,814.23p +2.56%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 214.80p +2.29%Homeserve (HSV) 227.90p +2.29%FTSE 250 - FallersMan Group (EMG) 74.45p -4.80%Home Retail Group (HOME) 106.60p -3.09%COLT Group SA (COLT) 96.70p -2.22%BBA Aviation (BBA) 200.00p -2.06%Ruspetro (RPO) 97.60p -1.91%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 390.00p -1.91%Redrow (RDW) 152.00p -1.87%Perform Group (PER) 392.90p -1.77%Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 467.20p -1.64%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 103.30p -1.62%BCMarket MoverstechMARK 2,043.45 -0.26%FTSE 100 5,703.70 -0.32%FTSE 250 11,692.09 -0.23%FTSE 100 - RisersEvraz (EVR) 221.80p +2.02%Xstrata (XTA) 959.80p +1.28%Vodafone Group (VOD) 162.80p +1.18%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 280.40p +0.97%Barclays (BARC) 239.75p +0.88%BT Group (BT.A) 226.30p +0.58%GKN (GKN) 203.70p +0.49%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 664.00p +0.45%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,185.00p +0.42%United Utilities Group (UU.) 654.00p +0.15%FTSE 100 - FallersWood Group (John) (WG.) 799.00p -4.88%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 230.10p -3.92%Polymetal International (POLY) 1,096.00p -1.88%Babcock International Group (BAB) 958.00p -1.54%Aggreko (AGK) 2,104.00p -1.50%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,485.00p -1.37%Carnival (CCL) 2,447.00p -1.33%Amec (AMEC) 1,042.00p -1.33%Whitbread (WTB) 2,384.00p -1.32%Old Mutual (OML) 167.40p -1.30%FTSE 250 - RisersAtkins (WS) (ATK) 693.00p +8.62%Savills (SVS) 422.40p +4.53%Kier Group (KIE) 1,146.00p +3.62%Bumi (BUMI) 274.30p +3.35%Invensys (ISYS) 222.80p +3.15%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 538.00p +3.07%Ted Baker (TED) 988.50p +2.86%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,814.23p +2.56%Homeserve (HSV) 227.90p +2.29%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 214.70p +2.24%FTSE 250 - FallersMan Group (EMG) 74.60p -4.60%Home Retail Group (HOME) 105.80p -3.82%COLT Group SA (COLT) 96.70p -2.22%Redrow (RDW) 151.70p -2.07%BBA Aviation (BBA) 200.00p -2.06%Ruspetro (RPO) 97.60p -1.91%Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 466.40p -1.81%Perform Group (PER) 392.90p -1.77%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 390.80p -1.71%Smith (DS) (SMDS) 199.70p -1.63%FTSE TechMARK - RisersDRS Data & Research Services (DRS) 17.50p +2.94%BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 17.25p +1.47%Vectura Group (VEC) 81.25p +1.25%Puricore (PURI) 43.50p +1.16%NCC Group (NCC) 865.00p +0.58%Corin Group (CRG) 68.88p 0.00%Innovation Group (TIG) 21.00p 0.00%Triad Group (TRD) 6.75p 0.00%Parity Group (PTY) 20.00p 0.00%Antisoma (ASM) 1.75p 0.00%FTSE TechMARK - FallersHiwave Technologies (HIW) 0.72p -6.45%Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 187.00p -6.03%Kofax (KFX) 275.00p -2.83%Filtronic (FTC) 30.00p -2.44%Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 2.26p -1.74%Optos (OPTS) 175.00p -0.14%Corin Group (CRG) 68.88p 0.00%Innovation Group (TIG) 21.00p 0.00%Triad Group (TRD) 6.75p 0.00%Parity Group (PTY) 20.00p 0.00%