London shares fall early on after NY losses, earnings news; Vodafone down UPDATE (AFX)

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - UK blue chips were lower early on after losses on Wall Street, and downbeat guidance from both Apple (NASDAQ: ) the top blue-chip faller in London in the wake of a revenue warning. At 9:07 a.m., the FTSE 100 index was off 69.8 points at 5,334.5, while the FTSE 250 index was down 148.8 points at 8,896.7. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 29.23 points to 11,467.34, the Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 0.68 points to 1,260.00, and the Nasdaq composite (NASDAQ: news) index dropped 3.25 points to 2,279.53, as a hike in the oil price offset initial enthusiasm over Bank of America (NYSE: IKJ - news) 's expectation-beating second-quarter results. The market was also uneasy about drug makers Merck and Schering-Plough, which both fell after a new study showed their cholesterol drug Vytorin... [read full story]