Wall Street Journal
October 3, 2011
European investors rode a roller coaster of volatility in the third quarter as stocks soared, sank or spiked with seemingly every pronouncement from a central banker, finance minister or ratings firm.
But, unmistakably, the market's broader direction was downward, as peripheral Europe's debt problems crept into the "core" countries of Germany and France. Those two markets, which had managed to defy debt concerns for much of the year, joined the selloff as fresh growth worries and fears of contagion from the periphery persuaded investors to dump even the safest, most liquid stocks.
Germany's DAX index and France's CAC-40 each plunged by 25% for their worst quarter since 2002. The indexes scraped two-year lows, outpacing the third-quarter declines for Spain, Portugal and Ireland. Greece—sitting at the center of the storm—led the plunge, with its Athex Composite index stumbling 38% as investors braced for a possible default in the Mediterranean nation.
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