Continuing commodity crisis weighs on FTSE

Commodities continued to tumble today on the back of global growth concerns, with oil and silver plunging to their lowest levels since March.

Downbeat US employment data, gloomy manufacturing data in Europe and fears over further monetary tightening in China have created a toxic mix triggering a dramatic commodities sell-off. According to Bloomberg, the S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities fell 1.7% in morning trading in New York, with oil falling 2.3% and silver tumbling 7%. The 19-commodity Reuters-Jefferies CRB index fell 5% yesterday, marking its fifth biggest one-day fall on record. Silver, which saw its biggest one-day drop in more than thirty years yesterday, has now declined around 30% since last week. The sell-of...