Marconi goes from bad to worse

NEWS Marconi was firmly in the red this morning after Standard & Poor's downgrading of the company for the second time in a month. Shares reached a record low, falling 9.2 per cent to 34p, before making some progress to stand at 34.65p, an 8.5 per cent drop on yesterday, before 10.00(BST). The stock had already dropped 28 per cent on Wednesday - a far cry from its 52 week high of £12.50. Standard & Poor slashed Marconi's rating from BBB to BB/B. With market value now below £1bn the company risks being relegated from the FTSE100. The FTSE index also took a battering this morning, dropping 1.31 per cent to its lowest level since October 1998.