Dow on the rise despite Kraft slump

The Dow Jones pushed ahead in early trade after its Labor Day recess, as the market reacted to Kraft's attempt to buy Cadbury.

America's blue chip index has added 35.29 points (0.37%) to 9476.56 at 3pm, despite a rejected offer from Kraft for Cadbury, which saw the chocolate firm's stock surge in London yesterday.

Manufacturer General Electric Co has climbed 4.54% to $14.5 as it was raised to "overweight" at JP Morgan Chase & Co which touted the firm's potential for an "upside surprise".

Alcoa Inc gained 2.87% to $12.53, while Caterpillar Inc added 2.1% to $47.06.

However, Kraft Foods Inc has fallen 5.43% to $26.58 after announcing it will pursue a takeover of Cadbury following the rejection of its £10.2bn offer.

In the UK, the FTSE has entered negative territory, down 1.44points (0.03%) to 4931.74 due to poor retail sales figures.

Retail sales fell back in August below economists' forecasts, raising fears about the strength of the economic recovery. Like for like sales fell 0.1% last month according to the British Retail Consortium.

Aviva has fallen 3.52% to 397.7p, RSA Insurance Group has lost 3.22% to 123.4p, while Legal and General Group has declined 3.34% to 70.95p.

However, InterContinental Hotels group remains the day's biggest winner, up 6.71% to 819.5p, while British Airways has added 3.79% to 200.1p, after Air France-KLM saw its load factor improve in August.

Miners Kazakhmys and Vedanta Resources have gained 4.64% to £10.60 and 3.13% to £18.44 respectively.