Europe News - March 18, 2013

Cyprus's government is now reportedly considering a tax-free threshold for smaller bank deposits as it attempts to win over legislators for a plan to impose a one-time levy on savings ahead of a parliamentary debate later today. At the moment, the publicized plan is to tax deposits under €100,000 at 6.7% and those above that level at 9.9%.

Overseas: Japan -2.71%. Hong Kong -2.00%. China -1.68%. India -0.69%. London -0.61%. Paris -1.15%. Frankfurt -1.02%.  

European bank shares slide following news of the levy on deposits in Cyprus, which has prompted concerns of a run on banks elsewhere in the eurozone. The Stoxx Europe 600 Banks index -2.1%. In Madrid, BBVA -3.7%; in Milan, Banca Popolare di Milano -3.9%, Intesa Sanpaolo -3.3%, Mediobanca -4.6%, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena -3.8%. In Paris, SocGen -4.2%, Credit Agricole -2.9%, BNP Paribas -3.3%. In Frankfurt, Deutsche Bank (DB) -2.8%

As in Asia, shares in Europe slump on the proposed raid on bank deposits in Cyprus, while bond yields in Spain and Italy rise sharply. EU Stoxx 50 -1.7%, London -1%, Paris -1.3%, Frankfurt -1.3%, Milan -2.45%, Madrid -2.3%. Italy's 10-year yields +0.1 bps at 4.71%, Spain's +0.13 bps at 5.06%.

Crisis on. S&P 500 futures -1% and the euro -1.2% as Brussels "faced with a drowning member state, instead of throwing the Cypriot people a lifebuoy, (throws) a millstone around its neck." EU leaders risk triggering bank runs in Cyprus (and elsewhere?) by going after bank depositors to fund the country's bank bailout. [Global & FX,

For the latest updates on the stock market, visit, 
http://daytradingstock-blog.blogspot.com/