World markets in reverse gear

European and world markets slumped yesterday with comments from the European Central Bank indicating that it could implement a negative interest rate policy or even purchase assets from bank to help drive inflation.

Further to this the Bank of England said its unemployment rate may drop to the crucial threshold of 7% by the third quarter in 2015 thus fuelling fear that an increase in its interest rates may come sooner than expected.

The ISEQ followed suit with the rest of Europe closing in negative territory, losing 30.37 points to close to 4,469.69.