Traders Won’t Need Furs to Survive Slowdown, Winterflood Says

Brian Winterflood, chairman of largest market maker on the U.K.’s Alternative Investment Market, recalls the recession of the 1970s as so bad that he was forced to supplement his income as a trader on the London Stock Exchange by buying and selling old fur coats.

Now in his sixth decade working in the City of London, the capital’s financial district, Winterflood says the recession won’t be as bad this time. While the FTSE 100 Index may drop to 3,000, more than 20 percent below current levels, and the economy isn’t close to a recovery, the current crisis is milder than during the 1970s, he said.