On Wednesday, the European markets were hit hard as banking stocks fell drastically in response to turbulence from Silicon Valley.
As the morning progressed, a 1.7% decrease in the Stoxx 600 index was observed across Europe – with most of its major sectors and stock exchanges reporting losses. Banking stocks were hit especially hard with a 4.6% dip, followed by retail showing an even steeper 3.9%.
On Wednesday, Credit Suisse suffered a staggering 21% decline in its stock price by 10:30 am London time after their Tuesday report exposed “fundamental weaknesses”, as reported by CNBC and Al-Arabiya.net.
Yesterday, Asian-Pacific and Wall Street markets boomed in a surge of trading activity as US bank stocks surged up due to optimism that the risk of contagion from Silicon Valley’s banking collapse had been avoided. This morning, American stock futures remain unchanged.
Trading in the stocks of numerous European banks, including Credit Suisse, Société Générale, Monte dei Paschi and Unicredit was temporarily suspended several times by stock exchange operators as share prices dropped. This had a particularly drastic effect on Italian markets that were hit with lower prices.
At approximately 11 am London time, Credit Seuss plummeted up to 23.8%, with Société Générale a close second as it dipped 9.9%.
