Today is not a good day to be a European bank. You may think the chance of a Greek exit would have been priced in to the markets by now, but each release of bad news brings a new hit to prices.
The worst affected is the Spanish bank Bankia, which was part nationalised last week. Reuters today reports that over €1bn has been withdrawn from the bank since the nationalisation, raising fears of a run – or jog, at least – on the bank. The news sent the bank down 12 per cent in 20 minutes, and although that has largely recovered, shares are still 11 per cent down on where they opened, hovering around €1.50. When the bank was listed in July, it was €3.75.
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Bankia (BKIA). Source: Bloomberg
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Other European banks are doing no better. UniCredit SpA is down 5.98 per cent, Banco Popolare 3.80 per cent, and Societe Generale 3.3 per cent.
Even things which sound European are tanking. French Connection is down 26 per cent:
French Connection (FCCN). Source: Google Finance
Oh, alright. That’s actually because French Connection issued a profits warning this morning, saying:
It appears unlikely that our profit performance for the full year will meet current market expectations. . . The UK retail market remains particularly challenging and the combination of prevailing consumer caution and ongoing economic difficulties suggests that this will not improve in the second half of the year.