European markets slide on Greek doubts

Stock markets in Europe were dragged lower on Friday, May 29th, as Greek economic and debt woes continued to pile up. Meanwhile, oil prices look set to record weekly losses despite the decline in US inventories. 

Germany’s DAX saw the biggest losses in the morning trading session, declining more than 1.3 per cent. The French CAC 40 was not far behind with losses over 1.2 per cent and the Euro Stoxx 50 was nearly 0.9 per cent in the red. The UK’s leading share index traded around neutral.

Data out on Friday showed that Greek bank deposits declined to their lowest levels since 2004, as worried citizens pulled €5.6 billion out of their accounts in April. Woes were then added to when updated GDP data confirmed that the Greek economy shrank by 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2015.

The figures also showed that Greece’s GDP contracted by 0.4 per cent in the final quarter of 2014, making it two consecutive quarters of negative activity - which economists technically call a recession. Further data showed that Greece’s prolonged slide is much worse than the US’s Great Depression from the 1930s.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices look set to record weekly losses, bringing an end to the record weekly winning streak in US crude. Brent crude is around three per cent lower on the week, its second consecutive loss, while US crude prices lost around two percent. 

Friday’s activity saw prices pare losses after data showed that US inventories declined last week. However, this failed to turnaround oil’s poor performance throughout the rest of the week, as it came under assault from a stronger US dollar.

Figures from the US Energy Information Administration on Thursday showed that crude oil inventories declined by 2.8 million barrels last week, down for the fourth week in a row.

Friday saw Brent crude rise to trade above the $63 per barrel level while US crude trades above the $58 per barrel mark.