LONDON -- Greece is the word that has been scaring the living daylights out of Europe in a week dominated by the ongoing eurozone crisis. After a series of failed attempts to form a coalition government in Athens, there are fresh Greek elections to be held next month.
The overall confusion sent the Athens General Index
Spanish debt fears
In Spain, the IBEX 35
Bankia, rescued last week, saw its share price slide by a massive 40% to a week low of 1.2 euros, but it rallied to end on 1.8 euros, just 12% down. Others affected by the downgrade included Banco Santander, which lost a modest 2% on the week to close on 4.6 euros.
FTSE crashing again
The contagion spread to London, where the FTSE 100
Lloyds Banking Group fell 15% on the week to 26 pence, and Barclays, which has avoided any need for a bailout so far, dropped 14% to 178 pence.
We did have a tiny handful of FTSE 100 risers. Security specialist G4S, which will be helping keep the crowds safe at the summer Olympics, announced a strong first quarter coupled with the appointment of ex-Deloitte chief John Connolly as its new chairman. The stock rose 2.5% to 272 pence.
A few miners halted their recent decline, with Randgold Resources putting on 3% to 4,897 pence, and Antofagasta just making positive territory with a 1% recovery to 1,049 pence. Are U.K. miners ripe for buying now, at the bottom of a commodities cycle? They just might be.
But it was a bad week overall for the FTSE, with the index now down more than 11% since its mid-March peak of 5,965.
Not too bad in France
In Paris, the CAC 40
But the index was almost totally red, again with banks the big losers. Credit Agricole fell 13% to 3 euros, with BNP Paribas losing 8.5% to 26 euros. Other fallers included Michelin, which fell by 12% to 48 euros.
But big losses in Germany
Things were worse in Germany, which enjoys one of the few prudently run economies in Europe, and the DAX
In fact, there wasn't a single rise on the German index over the full week, with Commerzbank leading the fallen on an 11% loss to 1.4 euros. But it wasn't just banks, as Bayerische Motoren Werke (better known as BMW) saw its stock fall 9% to 61 euros.
What will the shambolic state of European economics bring to the markets next week? I'd hate to guess, but it can't be any worse than this week, can it?
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