Bourses took a pounding Tuesday, slumping to their lowest in eight months as the Spanish economy stares into the abyss and military tensions between North and South Korea grow.The banking sector suffered more than most following yesterday’s demand by the International monetray Fund that Spain must reform its banking system.
Spain's authorities on Saturday stepped in to rescue CajaSur, a regional savings bank controlled by the Vatican. The lender has been struggling due to its exposure to the collapse in the Spanish property sector
Banco Santander, Banco Popular, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank and UBS have all tumbled.
Oil companies are on the back foot as demand concerns send the price of a barrel of oil down $2 to little more than $68. BP, Shell and Total fell.
Frankfurt plummeted 135 points to 5,670, Paris lost 99 points to end at 3,331, while Zurich ended 115 adrift at 6,091.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has described Germany's aim to tighten the European Union's stability pact as 'naive', according to a German press report published today.
Barroso told the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung that any modifications to the EU Treaty would prompt other member states to call for additional changes. He added that it is ‘almost impossible’ to withdraw voting rights of countries with high deficits under constitutional law.
Auto giant Volkswagen has agreed to buy a 90.1% stake in Italian car designer Italdesign-Giugiaro. The German firm didn’t comment on the price it paid for the stake, but added that the Giugiaro family will keep the remaining shares.Italdesign will become part of Volkswagen’s Lamborghini brand, Audi's Italian subsidiary. VW’s chief executive Martin Winterkorn said there will be no job cuts.
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