Yo-yo craze takes hold as Footsie swings

The London market has known about the yo-yo craze for some time - and cottoned on to it fully yesterday.

The London market has known about the yo-yo craze for some time - and cottoned on to it fully yesterday.

There was a quick spin-shot in the morning as the FTSE 100 index was flung down 111 points to its low of 5,749 half an hour after the official start of trading.

A flick of the wrist took it back up towards 5,800 and then there was some walking-the-dog around that level. After that, a mid-morning waterfall-climb took it back towards the opening level and then some more.

"It has been a remarkable day around here with some interesting price action," said Mr Paul O'Connor, strategist at CSFB.

Dealers had arrived at work with their bearskins on. There had been a sharp fall in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday and concerns about Brazil.

However, the steady buying of equities and bonds - which took the yield on the 10-year issues to the lowest level since the mid-1950s - that kicked in during the morning reflected the huge weight of institutional cash looking for a home and there's more to come.

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