European assets began trading on the front foot this morning after the announcement of a surprising Italian bank tax sent markets lower yesterday. The tax had been brought up before but had since gone off the boil, so while markets saw it as a shock, it’s not something that came completely out of nowhere.
Nevertheless, the lack of clarity around the magnitude of the tax had markets concerned, sending Italian and European banking stocks sharply lower. The mood has eased this morning after receiving clarity that the tax will not exceed 0.1% of bank assets.
