London ponders U.S. bailout deal

LONDON, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Britain's main stock index closed lower Monday as investors pondered whether a $700 billion U.S. bailout would reach across the Atlantic, sources said.

On Friday, the FTSE 100 index in London rose a record 431.10 points after the U.S. Treasury announced the massive plan to buy risky assets from troubled financial concerns.

But, moods of relief had cooled by Monday.

"Investors are wondering if the U.S. steps promise a rosy future or if they are nothing more than measures to fix short-term problems," one Japanese analyst told The Times of London.

In debate in Washington is the issue of whether or not foreign banks would be included in the U.S. bailout.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. has proposed including foreign banks. While the overall plan has met with broad-based approval, that particular step has proved controversial.

"Why should the American taxpayer pick up the tab for Deutsche Bank or UBS? Deutsche is the problem of the German government, not us, and UBS is a problem for the Swiss," Chris Whalen, the co-founder of Institutional Risk Analytics, a Wall Street consulting firm, told The Times.