The specter of Europe’s financial crisis is back to haunt investors.
Worries over the health of Portugal’s biggest bank on Thursday raised fears that the country might run into financial trouble again — just weeks after emerging from a bailout — and trigger a flare-up in the market crisis Europe thought it had quelled.
Stocks and bonds fell worldwide while the price of gold rallied as traders sought it out as a safe investment.
The tensions center on Espirito Santo International, a holding company that is the largest shareholder in a group of Espirito Santo family companies, including the parent of Portugal’s largest bank, Banco Espirito Santo. Espirito Santo International reportedly missed a debt payment this week and was cited for accounting irregularities — the sort of shenanigans that helped cause Europe’s debt crisis four years ago.
The International Monetary Fund, which provided funds for the Portuguese bailout, acknowledged in a statement that “pockets of vulnerability remain” in Portugal but declined to comment specifically on the case.
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