Stock Market Jitters

Crikey, you go out for a lunch and upon returning the financial world has gone into meltdown.

3% is generally a movement that is statistically insignificant. However, when applied to the FTSE 100 it equates to billions of pounds. Gone. Seemingly in a flash.

Days like these show how precariously our capitalist society is held together. A fairly innocuous lack of confidence in a very specific area of the market and suddenly the whole market starts unravelling. Banks rely on other banks, and all business rely on banks. The domino effect means everyone suddenly wants to sell their shares and there's no clear picture of when such selling will stop.

Of course, the business savvy will know that stock market prices will at some point make good this 3%, and then some, so the sold shares will always be purchased but peoples' pensions and investments still take a hammering in the short term.

The good news? If yoou really want to see it? After today, the likelihood of interest rate rises will decrease a bit as the market is correcting the generous credit terms of the past few years on its own without Bank of England or the Fed's involvement.

So some of us might have just saved £20-£50 a month. Whether our pensions and saving accounts will see such a silver lining is another question!