Update: FTSE slumps again as oil drops towards $50 mark

The FTSE 100 has dropped sharply again this morning as fears over significant falls in the oil price and other macroeconomic issues weighed on stocks.

Overnight, US crude oil WTI dipped below the symbolic $50 a barrel mark for the first time since April 2009 on fears of a supply glut and weak demand, while Brent crude, the global measure, crashed below $53 a barrel. This helped pushed the FTSE down 2% to 6,417 yesterday, while the German Dax was 3% lower and the French Cac dropped 3.3% on Monday. The falls continued this morning, with the UK's blue-chip index dropping as much as 1.4% before paring losses to stand 0.75% down at 6,370 by late morning. Overnight the US, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 shed 1.9% and 1.8% respectively, with...