Oil prices surged, while share prices plunged.
Brent stood at $114.08, WTI crude at $100.46, the US 10-year Treasury yield at 4.97% and the French 10-year yield at 5.076%. Gold was at $4,021, the VIX/CBOE jumped 14.09% towards 20, and S&P 500 futures had earlier fallen 1.25%.
At 09:00 Greek time, S&P 500 futures were at their steepest discount of October, a month that is currently in negative territory from New York and Frankfurt to Paris and Athens. In effect, its traditionally negative trend is being confirmed.
George Papanikolaou reported early on the triple crisis in markets and France; I would note that the third flashpoint is at the heart of Europe, with the potential, I would add, to spread to neighbouring countries and economies.
The final session of a week marked by significant losses across most European stock markets, with continuing selling in bank shares and companies carrying high levels of debt and liabilities.
The debt market and government bonds are in the crosshairs, a week before the ECB meeting (on 28-29 October) and 24 hours before Israel’s election (27 October), with US and Israeli media reporting scenarios for an attack on Iran. The mere mention of such scenarios, as the Houthis step up their attacks on Riyadh, is enough to keep oil on course to stay above $110 a barrel for Brent.
The DAX started from 25,371.75, the CAC 40 from 7,911.26 and the Euro Stoxx Banks from 276.23, with the index down 5.134% over the week. France, Europe’s second-largest economy, is due to have its credit rating assessed today; we referred to this in a report yesterday on Eki.
The Greek stock market was bound to be affected. With French bank shares being dumped, Italian, Spanish and other banks under heavy pressure, and the Euro Stoxx Banks down 4.17% at 276.23, selling on Euronext Athens was inevitable.
The banking index closed yesterday at 2,966.54, down 4.38%, but with gains of 6.02% for the quarter and 29.33% in 2026. A manager whose holdings have similar purchase prices would naturally move quickly to reduce positions—especially when the Euro Stoxx Banks’ return for the year has narrowed to just 3.46%.
A manager is selling because even now they are sitting on significant capital gains on positions in all four systemic banks. They are simply taking profits to cover other loss-making positions and free up cash. If the trend in international markets changes, they are most likely to return as a buyer, with the correction having given them lower entry prices.
For now, the trend is clearly short on both weekly and monthly timeframes, suggesting it is unlikely to turn long by the October close next Friday.
Yesterday’s trading value was €331.2m, with nearly €190m in shares of National Bank, Piraeus Bank, Alpha Bank and Eurobank.
Allwyn, Motor Oil, Athens International Airport, GEK TERNA, OTE and Coca-Cola HBC were the exceptions in yesterday’s session, with buyers in the ascendancy. It is a slight but encouraging sign if, as one might suppose, some “strong hands” are buying at the lows.
Dip-buying strategies are in play, particularly for shares in companies with solid fundamentals.