Southern Europe slammed hardest on fears of political contagion
by William Watts
Market Watch
Britain isn’t a member of the euro, but the U.K.’s vote to exit the European Union lays bare fears that a spreading political backlash against Europe’s longstanding political order could pose a renewed threat to the survival of the shared currency.
“This is actually a huge blow to the process of European integration and is incomparably more damaging than the threat of a Greek exit from the eurozone” ever was, said Nicholas Spiro, partner at London-based Lauressa Advisory, in a phone interview.
The vote spawned turmoil throughout global financial markets. The British pound plunged in highly volatile trade to its lowest level versus the dollar GBPUSD, -1.5502% in more than three decades. U.K. UKX, -3.15% and European equities SXXP, -7.03% fell sharply.