Brent is above $112, the DAX is below 25,400 and the EuroStoxx Banks index is down 2.45% at 281.21 points.
S&P 500 futures in New York have turned lower, Brent has jumped to $112.3 and France’s 10-year bond yield has touched the 5% mark. Short sellers have taken the initiative and remain in the driving seat.
France’s 10-year bond yield is also at 5%, a day before Moody's rates the euro zone’s second-largest economy, an issue Eki flagged earlier.
Selling in European bank shares began at the start of trading in Paris and Frankfurt, with an immediate impact on traders in Athens.
With the EuroStoxx Banks down 1.5% shortly before trading opened on Euronext Athens, orders could hardly be placed against the European trend. The first trades therefore came at 3,068 points, with a small gap down, before the index fell as much as 30 points further.
Turnover in the first half-hour reached 2.8 million shares, of which 2.2 million were traded mainly in the four systemic banks.
Buyers were absorbing supply from 3,035 points for now (at 11:15), but pressure on European stocks left little room for a rebound.
Given that a significant share of trading from Monday to Wednesday — particularly over the two sessions on the previous two days — involved "fast money", the correction now under way is seen as inevitable.
Most of the trading and turnover was in Alpha Bank (4.425), National Bank (16.175), Eurobank (4.419) and Piraeus (9.976), with sellers also in the majority of blue chips.
The FTSE25 rose from 6,708 to 6,721 in the first five minutes, then almost immediately fell towards 6,677. Of the six large caps with more buyers than sellers at 10:45, only two remained half an hour later: Motor Oil at 67.29 (0.22%) and HelleniQ Energy at 18.65 (0.25%), in step with the EuroStoxx Oil & Gas trend. That is unsurprising, with prices above $112 and still rising.
An attempt to offset the losses, as far as possible, came via Coca-Cola HBC shortly after 11:15, with orders at €54.20.
Turnover stood at €28.5 million, including €2.75 million in block trades. The balance was overwhelmingly in sellers’ favour, with 24 shares up and 77 down shortly before the first hour of trading was complete.