Blue-chips tumble as investors take fright Blue-chip shares in London dropped this morning as mounting concerns over Europe's debt crisis and the US economy knocked fragile investor confidence. The benchmark FTSE 100 lost 59 points, or 1pc, in early trading and the FTSE 250 fell 140 points as traders fretted over whether Spain would seek a bailout and Greece prepared for a general strike. There were also concerns over the health of the world's biggest economy after the president of the Philadelphia federal reserve bank in the US said the most recent round of quantitative easing will not do much to bolster the economy. "Spain is slowly becoming like Greece as the riots escalating in the country are slowly but surely resembling its smaller European counterpart that was the main trigger for the whole crisis," said Simon Denham at Capital Spreads. European stock markets were all lower today following falls in the US and Asia overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.75pc while the Nikkei 225 tumbled 2pc and shares in China dropped to their lowest level in more than 43 months. The FTSE 100 was a sea of red, with riskier mining stocks leading the fall. Evraz lost 3.9pc while ENRC was down 3pc and Anglo American declined 2.9pc. Banks were also lower, with Royal Bank of Scotland 3.4pc worse off and Barclays fell 3pc. On the mid-cap index, chip maker Imagination Technologies was the heaviest faller with a drop of 9pc. Texas Instruments, which Liberum Capital estimates is Imagination's third largest royalty payer, has said it is moving away from smartphone investment. This will have a "negative impact on Imagination's royalty outlook over the longer term," the broker said. Investec, meanwhile, estimated the change of tack at Texas Instruments could affect up to 20pc of Imagination's group profits. Elsewhere on the FTSE 250, shares in Shanks were following closely behind with a fall of 7pc after the group issued a profits warning.