- Portugal's 4% decline today brings its 7-day dive to 11% as the parent of Banco Espirito Santo reportedly is considering bankruptcy protection. Banco Espirito is off 17% today and more than 50% over the last month.
- Spain's IBEX 35 is down 2.4% and Italy's FTSE MIB is lower by 2%.
- Gold is higher by 1.5% to $1,344 per ounce and silver by 2.4% to $21.58.
- In other news, India disappointed gold bulls by leaving in place recent increases in gold import taxes in its just-released annual budget. The previous government over the last two years had boosted the import tax to 10% from 2% and mandated that 20% of imports had to be re-exported.
- GLD +1.1%, SLV +1.9%
- ETFs: GLD, SLV, AGQ, IAU, USLV, SIVR, SGOL, ZSL, UGL, DGP, GLL, UGLD, DZZ, SLVO, GLDI, DSLV, DGL, DBS, DGZ, AGOL, DGLD, OUNZ, TBAR, USV, UBG, GLDE, GYEN, GLDL, GLDS, GEUR, GGBP