RAMSEY CROOKALL

29th   July

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 closed down 1%, off earlier lows after some reassuring words from US President Obama. In a statement on the status of the US debt talks, he said he is confident a deal can be done by next week's deadline. Still, disappointing US GDP and Chicago PMI figures provided little cheer to the market as concerns still linger over the prospects for the US recovery.

The U.S. economy expanded at a slower pace than expected in the spring as consumers cut back on spending, while revisions showed the slowdown since the beginning of the year was much more drastic than previously thought. The US Commerce Department said gross domestic product rose at an annualized seasonally adjusted rate of 1.3% in April through June, while first-quarter growth was revised down sharply to a 0.4% rate from the earlier estimated 1.9% gain.

Vodafone's share price  rose after the company announced it will receive a dividend worth £2.8bn from US associate company Verizon Wireless. The stock closed up 3.99%.

Barclays suffered a drop into the red after analysts lowered their 2011 and 2012 earnings per share estimates by 5% and 6%, respectively, to 16.8p and 30.5p per share. Both Banks closed in the red.

THE FTSE 100 closed       Down 58 @ 5815                               THE DOW JONES at 16:40            Down         38           @       12201                             NASDAQ COM at 16:40               Up             13           @        2780                                         Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.6459 GBP - EURO          1.1439