In mid-morning trade, the FTSE 100 is up after a weaker start – and there is plenty to focus on.

Traders wanting a gentle start to the week would have been disappointed this morning, as a host of factors play tug of war with sentiment. There is plenty going on at the corporate level with Inmarsat, the biggest loser on the day, down more than 10% despite a jump in pre-tax profits. As usual, investors are looking past last year’s figures and are more concerned about what appears to be a drop-off on growth for the satellite communications company. Coming into today, the price of oil has once again moved out to a 30 month high on the back of Libyan unrest, with US crude above $106 a barrel. Added into this uncertainty is a downgrade of Greece’s credit rating, with an increasing risk of
 default given as the reason.

Although we are seeing plenty of volatility day to day, it is very difficult to make the case for further significant gains in shares whilst there is still so much uncertainty surrounding Libya and the oil price. This is a pattern across all the major indices at the moment, and it would be very surprising if they were able to break through their February highs until there is some sort of resolution. Looking ahead to the US open, at the moment we are expecting very little change from Friday’s close, with the Dow Jones currently indicated to open down by around five points.