Afternoon Markets: Dow and FTSE plummet on US jobless spike

The Dow Jones has plunged 150.17 points (1.77%) to 8353.89 today as US unemployment climbed to a 26-year high.

A further 467,000 people joined the queue for work last month, exceeding the 365,000 predicted, bringing the unemployment rate to 9.5%. Over six million US jobs have now been culled since the onset of the recession, yet the June figures is the first month-on-month unemployment hike in four months. No US blue chip stocks have made any gains in early trading. Alcoa has suffered the largest losses so far, plummeting 4.4% to $9.89, while United Tech has fallen 3.86% to $50.26. The FTSE 100 has also reacted badly to the US unemployment figures, shedding 106.05 points (2.44%) to 4234.66....