European stocks slumped today to their lowest level since the depths of the Asian crisis in October 1997 as investors feared the relentless slide in equities will rack up fresh corporate casualties.
In Dublin the ISEQ fell 3.4 per cent this morning with bank shares suffering the heaviest losses. AIB fell 60 cents to €11.20, Bank of Ireland shed 38 cents to €10.12 and IL&P is 51 cents weaker at €12.62
By noon, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index was down 2.7 per cent at 849 points as more disappointing earnings news from the likes of German technology group Siemens and Swiss engineer ABB also took their toll on shell-shocked investors.
US stock index futures signalled more losses to come on Wall Street where banking giants Citigroup and JP Morgan slumped yesterday after US lawmakers criticised their involvement with the Enron corporate disaster.
As rumours swirled among European bourses that some US financial institutions were on the ropes, politicians tried to calm markets but to no avail.
Insurers were among the hardest hit, gripped by fears they are being caught in a downward spiral and forced to dump more of their shareholdings to remain solvent.
France's Axa tumbled 20 per cent to a seven-year low at one point, but pared some losses after it was forced to say it did not expect to issue a profit warning or increase its capital.
The pan-European blue chip index is down about 14 per cent since losses began to accelerate last Friday, and is down by a third for the year after two down years in a row.