December 9: FTSE100 Performance Analysis For This Day

Average percentage change for this day	0.054 %
Standard deviation	0.936
No. of times the FTSE has gone down today since 1984	7
No. of times FTSE has gone up today since 1984	7

---

Metals data for today

	Gold	Silver	Platinum	Paladium
Day ranking (out of 365)	364	358	362	19
Avg. % change	-0.59%	-0.858%	-0.681%	0.405%
Standard deviation % change	0.879	1.561	1.289	1.173
No. of times price has gone up	3	10	8	4
No. of times price has gone down	16	13	10	2

Gold:since 1970, Silver : 1970, Platinum: 1976, Paladium: 1996

---

Yahoo European Business
London shares turn higher at close (AFP)
European stocks fall, mirroring US, Asian losses (AFP)
German Industrial Production Rises in Oct. (AP)
Northern Rock foundation for FTSE rally (FT.com)
EU fails to agree on reduced VAT rates amid German resistance (AFP)
Ericsson helps Europe hit fresh 3½ year high (FT.com)
Britain sets out proposals to break EU budget impasse (AFP)
British finance minister slashes optimistic economic growth targets (AFP)
Dutch Zalm casts doubt on EU budget deal (Reuters)
EU and US must slash subsidies - Goodale (Reuters)
Germany wants to cut EU budget contributions (AFP)

On this day
1998 UK-based Zeneca and Astra from Sweden announced they would merge to form the fourth largest drug company in the world, with $14bn in sales. The new company to be called AstraZeneca.

BBC - On This Day
1973: Sunningdale Agreement signed
Tripartite talks on Northern Ireland end in an historic agreement to set up a Council of Ireland.
1993: Astronauts put Hubble back in action
A record-beraking mission to repair the faulty Hubble telescope in outer space is declared an unqualified success.
1996: Guilty verdict on school machete attacker
A man who attacked three children and four women with a machete is found guilty of attempted murder.
1992: American marines land in Somalia
American forces land in Somalia to begin humanitarian operation in famine-stricken country.
1987: Gatting row halts play in Pakistan
The England cricket tour hangs in the balance as a row erupts between England captain Mike Gatting and the umpire Shakoor Rana.
1957: Post Office issues Christmas warning
The Post Master General kicks off a campaign urging the public to send their Christmas cards in good time.

Wikipedia On This Day
Wikipedia entry for December 9