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A quick recap on what's been happening on the markets. After diving 3.5% in the first few minutes of trade today, the FTSE 100 has recovered some ground, but is still down 2%, or 150.36 points, at 7184.62. Not one share in the index is trading higher.

The sell-off has also hit other European markets. In Germany, the Dax index is down 2.4%, while in France, the Cac 40 index is 2.8% lower.

All eyes will now be on Wall Street where trading is due to start within the next hour.

At the end of the hearing Rachel Reeves castigated the four executives for apologising, but not taking any actions despite having earned millions from Carillion.

"It's just words -'I'm saddened, I'm disappointed, I wish I could have done things differently' - but the money's in the bank," she said.

"But it's not in the bank is it for the subcontractors, it's not in the bank for the people who are retired or coming up for retirement. So instead of the words why don't you actually do something, why don't you give some money back."

The Carillion MP sessions have now finished. MPs heard testimony from a number of former directors. You can read our report of the proceedings here

Image source, ParliamentTV

Richard Howson is challenged by one committee member: "You've got to the point where you're bringing in money to subsidise work that wasn't profitable. It's a Ponzi scheme."

Mr Howson disagrees. "No, we were bidding for quality work for the British government, for quality private sector organisations in the UK, we're pulling out of construction in Canada, reducing our construction effort in the Middle East.

"We were honing back to better quality customers."

Rachel Reeves to Richard Howson: "In two years your total remuneration increased by around 50% [from around £1m to £1.5m]. What did do you to earn that?"

Howson: "The jump in my remuneration in 2016 was a result of the vesting of 'leap' awards, relative to 2014, of just over half a million pounds."

Reader Mike Thomson has been following our coverage of the MPs committee Carillion questioning today.

"I have looked at the responses from the various senior executives being questioned and I find the whole thing astonishing," he writes. "I worked in the construction sector for over 25 years and am a chartered accountant. If any business is reporting profits regularly and yet is haemorrhaging cash as Carillion was, there is clearly something very wrong.

"This went on for many years and had been the talk of the industry for many years. To find that the board and its officers did not think there was something wrong is little short of astonishing."

Frank Field says the pension trustees say Carillion "imposed" its will on them.

But Mr Adam says that during his tenure the contributions to clear the pensions deficit were increased by 50% and "clearly the pension trustees were a major factor in terms of the increase of those contributions".

Reader Steve Tymms writes in response to Sarah Gault's mortgage analogy.

"She ought to remember the old saying ‘You owe the bank £100, you have a problem. You owe the bank $100m million, the bank has a problem’.

"That is why banks carried on dealing, to attempt to get all their money back. Although, being first in line for being paid-out, ahead of other debtors, they do have less of an incentive to not act rashly."

He reckons banks should be put on an equal footing with everyone else, and then wouldn’t be so likely to lend to 'dodgy' outfits already in debt. However he concedes that would mean they would be less likely to lend to start-ups.

Frank Field asks: "Do you think the government should rule that none of you are fit and proper people to serve on companies?"

Philip Green replies: "No I don't. I believe that every decision we took, at the time we took it, we believed to be right and we surrounded ourselves with quality advisers."

Former chief executive Richard Howson says: "The company was run well in my opinion, there are things that I would have done differently.

"The support services and construction are in very difficult sectors, it takes a lot of horsepower to put cash into the group.

"60% of my time was on cash calls, out and about collecting."

Image source, ParliamentTV

The accusation from the Federation of Small Businesses that some suppliers were forced to wait for more than 120 days for payment from Carillion is put to the former executives.

Mr Howson says that he "doesn't recognise" that, and Mr Green says "as a general principle, no I don't recognise that".

Mr Adams is asked a direct question. "Do you accept the Insolvency Service's evidence that Carillion did not have a complete list of all the directors of the subsidiary companies?"

He replies: "I can't comment on that. I left the business at the end of 2016. I wasn't there."

Meanwhile reader Sarah Gault writes in to point out that people wouldn't have been allowed to behave as Carillion did. "At what point do the banks stop dealing with firms that are £900m in debt? At what point do the government stop giving contracts to the company?

"The whole episode is the equivalent of me failing to pay my mortgage for six months, then applying to the mortgage lender for a loan to build a conservatory and getting it!"

More of your comments on Carillion. Reader Ellie Metcalf writes in to report a close call! "I worked for Balfour Beatty during the time that Carillion attempted a "takeover".

"There were worries then within Balfour Beatty that Carillion would "drag us under" as the amount of debt they had then was massive.

"The shareholders and union obviously made the right decision about stopping the takeover or two of the biggest construction companies would be no longer!"

Image source, ParliamentTV

It's pointed out that former finance director Richard Adams was in his role at a time when the pensions deficit grew.

"How much responsibility do you take," he's asked.

He replies: "I take total responsibility for the period I was there. But at the time I was in the organisation it had adequate liquidity and was operating successfully."

Image source, ParliamentTV

Frank Field asks Mr Green what his responsibility is for Carillion's collapse.

"Full and complete.. total," he says. "No question in my mind about that."

"Not necessarily culpability, but full responsibility.

"And if I look back of course there are things we'd have done differently."

Philip Green says: "Negotiations around the contract itself were done too quickly. If we had spent longer, some of the risks might have been mitigated.

"But I don't believe we had lower margins than our peers - we compared our margins on a regular basis, and ours compared favourably"

Was the purchase of two companies - including Alfred McAlpine - designed to prop up Carillion's balance sheet, Mr Adam is asked.

No, he says, the purchases were designed to increase the company's exposure to support services, and reduce its reliance on construction.