18.8.2011
By Simon Miller
The finance sector continued to take a hit today as concerns over the European debt crisis extended to the US.
On the FTSE, financials fell 6.54% since the start of trade with Barclays, Lloyds and RBS falling 9.60%, 8.63% and 9.17% respectively by 14.52BST this afternoon. The FTSE 100 was down 3.73% at 5,132.49.
The sell-off was mirrored on the Continent with a further 4.17 % drop on the CAC 40, a 4.57% fall on Euro Stoxx 50 and a drop of 5.33% on the German Dax.
Fears have spread to the States with news that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is increasing its checks of the US operations of European banks to make sure that the banks have reliable access to funds needed to operate according to newspaper reports.
As a result the S&P 500 was down 3.34 and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF fell 3.36% in correspondence. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 4% and Nasdaq has fallen 4.72%.
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