Barclays and Société Génerale down by around 7%

The Banks are taking a big hit today on the markets in Europe, further emphasising the complete hopelessness of the Tuesday summit between Sarkozy and Merkel.

In France, there still is no news publicly available on where the new spending cuts or tax rises, that President Sarkozy returned from his vacation to debate with his ministers, are likely to fall.

Details will be posted when they can be obtained