Afternoon markets: Dow survives disappointing job figures

The Dow Jones opened trading in the red on the back of disappointing employment figures showing the number out of work increased to 84,000 in December.

However, it swung back into positive territory and as at 15.20 GMT, the index was up 0.14%, or 15.26 points, to 10587. Although the employment data took the gloss off recent upbeat economic figures, the decrease in the number of private sector employees in work nevertheless represented the smallest fall since March 2008. Early winners are 3M (up 1.75%), Alcoa (up 1.67%) and American Express (up 1.18%). Kraft, which received a warning from largest shareholder Warren Buffett not to commit to many shares in its hostile takeover bid for Cadbury, was one of the morning's losers, down 1....