It was a miserable end to a miserable week. The fears of recession took hold in earnest yesterday and the terror was palpable. The market opened and plunged, screaming down 10 per cent to smash into the 3,000-levels for the first time in five years.

Ever the bellwether of economic health, newspaper publishers across the globe are facing a grim combination of internal and external pressures as the squeeze on advertising spending exacerbates the upheavals caused by the internet.

The FTSE 100 was up 96.8 points at 5417 and the FTSE 250 309.8 points at 9097.4 at 11.58am today. Michael Page was monopolising the market’s attention this morning, up 33.84 per cent or 89.75p at 355p.

Trinity Mirror's saw advertising sales drop by 8 per cent in the first half of 2008, and is predicting double-digit year-on-year falls for the rest of the year.

Murat's victory should serve as a warning to the entire British press

Trinity Mirror was forced to make a formal statement on its financial health yesterday after analyst concerns spooked the market and the media group's stock dropped by 18.6 per cent in a single day.

In these frugal days, buying Tesco's mushroom risotto for £1.99 rather than paying double at Marks & Spencer looks a good deal. Even the better-off are now going to cheaper shops to save on food now that petrol costs as much as gold. It's this change in behaviour that is hurting Marks & Spencer so badly and which prompted last week's profit warning. And it's why Sir Stuart Rose is going to have to pull off the performance of his life when he appears at the Royal Festival Hall this Wednesday.

It was a week that most retailers would probably prefer to forget – seven days that shook the high street. From the grandest names to the most minor, the news has been uniformly grim.

Trinity Mirror issued a profits warning yesterday and joined the growing list of newspaper groups struggling in the face of the straitened property market and worsening economic climate.

Daily Mirror and regional newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror today warned over full-year profits as it said advertising revenues were suffering a "marked" decline.

Trinity Mirror was weak yesterday after Morgan Stanley spooked investors by more than halving its target price for the stock, to 170p from 350p.

It was a grim day on the FTSE 100 yesterday as mining company shares, which were hit by profit-taking following Monday's record run and by analysts' calls for a correction, fell by the wayside.

Colin Myler landed the top job at Britain's biggest-selling tabloid a year ago – just after the paper was shamed for royal phone tapping. In his first interview he tells Ian Burrell how he has changed the paper and unveils his glossy new magazine