The reason for all the action was news that the highly leveraged Dubai World, a government investment company is attempting to reschedule its debt. The company is best known for its awe inspiring developments including the Palm Dubai which can be seen from space. A 50% drop in Dubai property values has the left the company in a precarious position with some US$ 59 billion in debt, US$ 12 billion of which is borrowed from Europe. The credit default swap market exploded on the news with the cost of protecting against borrowers defaulting on their loans rising to levels not seen since the dark days of the credit crisis.
Investors were left shell-shocked after a harrowing illiquid trading session saw one way traffic. Anything that is remotely associated with risk was shunned, seeing European stocks fall over 3%. The biggest casualties were the banks with massive drops accross the board. The list includes: Credit Suisse (-5%), HSBC (4.8%), Barclays (-8%), Lloyds (-5.75%) and Royal Bank of Scotland (-7.75%) The Aussie lost 200 points in the bloodbath, breaking straight through trendline support to start the day in the low 0.91's.