Market overview: FTSE down despite dovish MPC

1630:Close Another large drop in copper prices and a dip in oil weighed on the top flight index despite a dovish set of MPC minutes and Inflation Report. Carney&Co. pointed to downside risks for growth arising from emerging markets and signaled they are in no hurry to lift Bank Rate. Their prognosis was echoed at the company level by management at Amec, which cited risks of an extended slowdown in oil and gas as the reason why they were slashing their dividend. Analysts at Numis also took down their target price for Hunting on expectations for a slow recovery in capex in the oil field services space. Homebuilders on the other hand did well out of the BoE´s caution. FTSE 100 down 47.98 points to 6,364.90.

1558: Facebook surpasses GE in market capitalisation.

1509: JP Morgan now sees BoE raising rates in second quarter of 2016 and not the first.

1508: Writing on Hunting Canaccord says: "Thanksgiving is on 26 November this year, and the US oil industry is now widely anticipated to start the seasonal holiday then. This means that we think the US rig count will likely drop even further, and that suppliers to the industry - like Hunting - will see very little work over the period and likely close to zero gross margin."

1507: Thomas Cook is being weighed down by the negative news-flow surrounding recent events in Sharm El-Sheikh.

1330: Initial weekly unemployment claims increased by 16,000 in the latest five-day period to reach 276,000 (consensus: 262,000).

1329: Three-month copper futures on the LME are lower by 2.3% to $5,039.50 per metric tonne.

1200: The Monetary Policy Comittee voted by eight to one to keep Bank Rate at 0.5% and was unanimous in its decision to hold the size of the Bank of England´s asset purchase facility at £375bn, as expected. MPC lowers growth outlook despite lower interest rate path implied by markets and says risks are to the downside.

1052: Commenting on StanChart´s restructuring plan Macquarie says: "To raise new equity at 0.40x Price-to-book value (1H15) leaves one scratching their head. It is far from certain where the new capital may go and raises the question whether the capital increase is enough, in our view," it added. Asset quality is "deteriorating rapidly" and it is unclear how deep the rabbit hole goes, the broker adds.

0957: Investec has reportedly cut its target price on Anglo American to 588p from 773p.

0954: "Performance in H2, including the key October trading period, has been outstanding at +10% LFL particularly once positive gross margins are also factored in. After a 15% correction HWDN has gone from being overbought back in June to slightly oversold - so with a 2.5% PBT upgrade today and 2% target price increase to 510p we upgrade to BUY from Hold," N+1 Singer says about Howden Joinery.

0953: Howden Joinery is pacing gains on the second tier index. After the company´s trading update, Panmure Gordon writes: "Overall sales probably a fraction ahead of our estimates, but as discussed at the interim results management are investing for growth." The broker has kept its 'buy' recommendation and 575p target price in place.

0949: Amec Foster Wheeler shares are tumbling after the company slashes its dividend and says it anticipates extended weakness in its markets.

1002: Commenting on Marks&Spencer, Nomura is today telling clients: "Although market share loss in GM makes the shares volatile, steady progress on cash generation should generate value over time."

1001: The state will probably wait until next year to sell more shares in RBS following weak third quarter numbers from lenders.

0934: Stocks have started lower out of the gate, tracking slight overnight losses on Wall Street. Investors are anxious ahead of today´s MPC meeting, with the minutes and the latest Inflation Report also set for release. There is a fair amount of chatter around regarding the posisbility that either Martin Weale or Kristin Forbes - especially the former - might join IanMcCafferty in calling for an immediate rise in rates. AstraZeneca and RSA are in the lead early on, while BP, Morrison and StanChart weigh to the downside. The latter has been downgraded by Macquarie to underperform. FTSE 100 down 25.87 points to 6,387.01.