Hello traders!

In the US tonight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 293 points at
12,099.66. The S&P 500 fell 32.32 points to 1,298.42, while the Nasdaq Composite
slid 58.30 points, or 2.6%, to 2,209.96.

See you in the morning with the latest....

G.

Morning all. Market reports:

Telegraph
The Times
The Times (Need to know)
FT
The Independent
The Guardian
This is Money

One of London's leading brokers has demanded that clients put up significantly more cash to cover derivative positions - a move which traders fear could result in millions of shares being dumped on the market today. An executive at a leading CFD broker warned yesterday that "the days of cheap finance for CFD investors are over". A senior MF Global salesman told one client the company was finding it increasingly difficult to finance highly-leveraged positions. "We're freezing people out of anything but the FTSE 100," he said.
MF Global warning sparks fears of sell-off

It's one thing updating the market on your financial position. It's quite another to more than double your collateral requirements - inviting clients to take their business elsewhere. Especially when markets are this dicky - and when your share price has been shot to bits.
MF Global Reiterates Strong Liquidity Position (and tells clients to get lost)

A hunt has been launched for a stock market trader who may have made 100 million in a "modern day bank robbery" after an attack on the share price of the country's biggest mortgage lender. An email circulated in the City by an anonymous banker, seen by The Daily Telegraph, falsely alleged that a newspaper was to run an article today on problems at HBOS which "will raise the spectre of a run on the bank".
Hunt for 100m rogue trader after attack on HBOS share price

Stock market manipulators yesterday tried to bring down one of Britains biggest banks by spreading false rumours through the City. The Bank of England was forced to issue an unprecedented denial that HBOS was in trouble. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said that it would pursue traders guilty of market abuse by spreading untrue claims that banks were on the brink of collapse.
HBOS: Malicious traders in the City try to topple the Halifax bank

Among some City lawyers there is a growing conviction that banks are, one by one, being picked off by unethical short-sellers, that the abuse is organised. If that is the case, the perpetrators should be in no doubt about the seriousness of their crimes: they are hacking away at the very foundations of Western capitalism.
HBOS trashncash gang are chipping away at foundations of Western capitalism

Could trashing and pumping be at an end? Yesterdays stark warning by the Financial Services Authority that it would take regulatory action against traders found to be rumour-mongering for profit talking down a stock (trashing and cashing) or talking it up (pumping and dumping) came in response to a rash of apparently groundless scare stories about the UKs banks.
FSA threatens rumour-mongers

To root out "trash and cash" trades the FSA deploys its Sabre computer system, which allows it to drill down through the 5m or so trading reports it receives each day from big City stockbrokers and spread-betting firms. It is focusing on share prices of financial firms, and particularly HBOS, and will go back through share trades, including spread bets and complex contracts for difference, since the beginning of this week.
Watchdog sifts through trash with Sabre

The Bank of England has demanded the Financial Services Authority investigate inaccurate rumours sweeping the market that a British lender is in crisis after being forced to issue a vehement denial that it has been called into emergency meetings.
BoE demands probe as rumours hit UK banks

It's one thing for speculators to manipulate a share price with false rumour and innuendo in the hope of making a fast buck though even this is illegal quite another to destabilise one of the country's major banks, with likely catastrophic knock-on consequences for the wider economy had it succeeded.
Outrage as the speculators sip champagne on the proceeds of yesterday's HBOS killing

Savers with the Halifax were urged not to make panicked withdrawals of cash yesterday after shares in HBOS, the parent company of the high street bank, dropped by almost 20 per cent at one stage.
Halifax savers are urged to hold tight as short-sellers put bank into spin

Morgan Stanley admitted it has tapped the Federal Reserve's new secured lending facility as it remains "paranoid" about the state of the financial markets in the wake of Bear Stearns' dramatic collapse.
'Paranoid' Morgan Stanley taps Fed's new lending facility

One of America's biggest home loan providers, Thornburg Mortgage, needs to raise nearly $1bn over the next seven business days in order to keep its creditors at bay.
US mortgage giant needs $1bn to survive

The credit crunch passed another milestone yesterday as Merrill Lynch became the first known investor to sue a bond insurer, claiming that Security Capital Assurance was attempting to avoid meeting claims on $3.1 billion (1.6 billion) of souring bonds.
Merrill Lynch sues bond insurer over claims

Joe Lewis, the British billionaire, was buying more shares in Bear Stearns just hours before the company collapsed as a result of a liquidity crisis, it was revealed yesterday.
Billionaire Lewis lost $1.2bn on Bear Stearns

The Federal Reserve decided last weekend in the inferno of the financial crisis that Wall Street's major players -- even a smallish and brutish one, Bear Stearns -- are too big to fail. So the Fed is pumping all-but-unlimited amounts of all-but-free money into the financial system to keep it operating despite the Wall Street bank run. But is the Fed itself too big to fail? And what institution would step in as the buyer of last, last resort -- if the buyer of last resort should prove insufficient to the challenge?
What if The Fed Fails?

Another cut in UK interest rates edged closer yesterday after it emerged that the deputy governor of the Bank of England Sir John Gieve has moved into the camp calling for reductions.
Bank deputy governor Gieve urges early interest rate cut

The Bank of England is poised to cut interest rates as soon as next month, experts have predicted after it emerged that two Monetary Policy Committee members voted for lower borrowing costs a fortnight ago.
Interest rates set to be cut, experts suggest

Investors scrambled to liquidate risky positions across the board last night in a renewed flight to safety, setting off a biggest one-day fall in gold for a quarter of a century and a slide in currencies and stock markets.
Gold crashes as investors bail out

NIKKEI 225	AUSTRALIA ASX200	SHANGHAI	HANG SENG

Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning down 781.43 points (3.57%) at
21,085.51, while the Nikkei is closed for a public holiday.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for May delivery was down 54
cents at $102 per barrel from its close of $102.54 during floor trading in the US Wednesday.

Happy trading!

G.

TFN economic and business calendar

TFN UK calendar and forecasts for today

The Thursday Press Roundup

Thomson Financial UK at a glance share guide

UK smallcap opening - PipeHawk falls as H1 losses widen

UK smallcap opening - Mallett adrift as FY profits fall sharply

STOCKWATCH Wolseley higher after ABN Amro ups to 'hold' from 'sell'UK smallcap opening - Enegi Oil stages satisfactory market debut

UK smallcap opening - ArmorGroup soars on agreed 80p cash bid from G4S

UK smallcap opening - Cellcast rises on 1.4 mln stg channel swap

UK smallcap opening - Premier Research advances on agreed 100p a share bid

STOCKWATCH Rentokil Initial up on break up hopes after ex-ICI trio appointment

STOCKWATCH Wolseley slides as US housing market fears offset broker upgrades

UK small caps open sharply lower; PipeHawk hit by widening H1 losses

BROKERWATCH Rolls-Royce falls; Evolution says 'sell' on Boeing 787 delay reports

STOCKWATCH Carphone Warehouse higher as Swisscom buys group's branch network

Metals - Gold tumbles on stronger dollar, weaker oil prices