Equities have started the week moving lower, with the FTSE now testing that 5600 level.

With little economic data to work on, equities have instead taken their lead from Friday's bout of profit taking on Wall Street, as traders await fundamentals later in the week. Progress of Obama's healthcare reform in the US has done little to damage the outlook for sector stocks, with both GSK and AstraZeneca outperforming the broader index, while British Airways' share price is also holding up relatively well as the strike enters its third day, although a sustained break below 240p could pave the way for further weakness here.

There's not much due out as the session progresses, although tomorrow's UK inflation readings and the budget on Wednesday should ensure that any lack of meaningful direction proves to be relatively short lived. Wall Street is however pointing towards a lower start, with the Dow currently at 10,681 which is marginally below the intra-day lows for Friday, although it's worth remembering the fact that we did see eight consecutive up days over the last two weeks, so some kind of adjustment - especially given concern over mounting debt in developed economies - was always looking imminent.