26.06.201406:43:36UTC+00European shares steady, Barclay slump

European shares are slightly up on the opening session for Thursday, with lingering effects of previous session’s sell-off. However, Barclay dropped 5% following the lawsuit filed against it by the New York Attorney General.

FTSEurofirst 300 Index rebounded from a one-month low hit on Wednesday as US GDP for the first quarter had a downward revision and climbed 0.2% to 1,374.27 pips. UK’s FTSE 100 Index, France’s CAC 40, and Germany’s DAX all increased by 0.1%.

The Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Barclay rafter the bank allegedly gave an unfair advantage to its US clients which had a high-frequency trading despite claims that it was only protecting other customers from the traders. Securities fraud lawsuit versus the lender was filed recently. Because of this, Barclay shares plummeted today as it led the European blue chips down.

Chief market analyst at IG France, Alexandre Baradez commented that the European banking sector will continue experiencing a drag due to judicial contexts. He assesses that there is a fear among investors of a domino effect from the investigations that will be done by US authorities. Baradez predicts an anxiety in the investors who would be wondering who’s next after the BNP, and Barclay. Baradez adds that the figures were not so good because he thinks that the market is indeed rebounding a bit for today but indexes are toppish according to him and in the short-term, there are no positive catalysts in the horizon.