Carnage outside the FTSE 100

Wednesday's quarterly reshuffle of the FTSE 100 marks the biggest upheaval in the index since 2001, when the dotcom bubble burst, said Robert Lindsay in The Times.

This time the blame is on volatility triggered by the credit crunch as reflected by Northern Rock, which leads seven companies ejected from the blue-chip index.

Many of the latest evictees have been ousted before and all are capable of clawing their way back in again, although the Rock's return would be "miraculous", said Patrick Hosking in The Times.

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Note that Group 4 Securicor, set to join the Footsie, has a market value of only £2.8bn, said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. In September, the lowest-ranked entrant at the previous review carried a £3.1bn price tag.

The lower threshold "tells the story of this year's market". The FTSE 100 overall is just ahead of January's level but only thanks to a handful of miners and oil firms. "Elsewhere, there has been carnage."

The FTSE Small-Cap index has slumped 19% since June, while the FTSE 250 Mid-Cap index is 15% off its May record; both are down on the year, said Neil Hume in the FT. These indices are largely orientated towards the weakening domestic economy, while the FTSE 100 has benefited from strong emerging markets. No wonder that outside the blue-chip index, investors "are starting to talk about a bear market".