The FTSE 100 ended Friday 66.50 points down (1.15%) at 5699.90, taking the index to its lowest level in six weeks, largely thanks to more bad news from the other side of the pond.

Fears of a recession in the US grow as the impact of the credit crunch deepens. Employers cut 63,000 jobs, the highest level for nearly five years, and the Federal Bank didn’t deliver an anticipated emergency interest rate cut to help alleviate the pain. Although it has injected $100 billion of emergency financing into the system.

The news hit our mining stocks the hardest with BHP Billiton down 90p (5.36%) to 1590p, Antofagasta down 43.5p (5.2%) to 786.5p and Vedanta Resources down 111p (4.69%) to 2256p.

JD Wetherspoon was another notable faller off nearly 17% to 260p but that was a result of the smoking ban rather than anything going on in the US.

The FTSE 250, FTSE All-Share and FTSE Aim indices all followed suit ending the day down by 1.15%, 1.20% and 0.86% respectively.

The Chinese state controlled Aluminium Corp of China (Chinalco) has paid £7bn for a 9% stake in in the Rio Tinto Group. This equates to £60 per share which is 20% higher than the £50 per share offer from BHP Billiton. The invetment is the largest deal to date by a Chinese corporation in a foreign business.

The deal represents a strategic move by China, as it has few natural resources of its own, yet has a great demand for such resources given the rapid and continuous development of the country.