European Banks Losing Confidence in Each Other

The euro zone banks deposited more than 90 billion emergency deposits on Thursday in the European central Bank; this move is interpreted as that they prefer putting their money aside rather than lending to each other. According to the ECB statistics published on Friday, the banks in euro zone put 90.5 billion Euros in the ECB overnight from Thursday to Friday. When one remembers the stress tests of the European banks in July 2011, only 8 out of 90 banks failed to pass the tests, 16 were in the danger zone. Now, the efficiency of these tests and their results raise doubts among many analysts.

The situation in Europe is like a slow motion car crash. In the meantime some hedge funds are increasing their short positions in French companies. Here is the latest activity:

The latest publication (AMF) of short positions for TECHNICOLOR (the world’s leading suppliers of digital content delivery services and home access devices) shows that Coatue Offshore Master Fund increased its short position in Technicolor by moving from a net short position in 0,586% of issued share capital on Aug 18th to 3,040% of issued share capital on the same day. Philippe Laffont’s short position in the stock amounts to nearly $20 Million.

The latest publication (AMF) of the short positions for UNIBAIL-RODAMCO SE (French-Dutch Company, the largest commercial real estate company in Europe) shows that Lansdowne UK equity Fund Limited decreased its short position in Unibail-Rodamco by moving from a net short position in 1.417 % of issued share capital on Aug 11th to 1.366% of issued share capital on Aug 18th. Lansdowne UK was previously holding a short position of -1,593% on Feb 1st 2011.