Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker called on Monday for an end to the "casino game" played on financial markets, where speculation is hitting shares of one European bank after another.
"I can only hope that the confidence returns, that the financial markets don't forget to keep a close eye on the health of their fundamental figures which are those of several banks, and that we see an end to this casino game which is being played out regardless of good fundamentals," said Juncker, who also heads the eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers.
He was speaking the day after Dutch-Belgian financial group Fortis, which lost almost a quarter of its share value last week, was bailed out in a part-nationalisation by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Juncker noted that after the Fortis shares were targeted, the Franco-Belgian group Dexia was in the speculators' sights on Monday. Dexia shares were down a massive 27.5 percent in afternoon trading.
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