US, European stock markets rattled by Italy crisis

European stocks fell for a second day as Italy's political crisis rumbled on, raising concerns another election could be seen as a referendum on the euro.

Italy's main stock index ended the session down 2.65%, after earlier sinking to a 10-month low.

Italy's bond market also suffered a steep sell-off. The yield on 10-year debt hit 3.133% - a level not seen since 2014 - although it recovered slightly to 2.9% towards the end of the trading day.

A rise in bond yields means the Italian government is paying more interest on its debt.

Bank shares were also down, slumping by almost 5% to a 13-month low, bruised by a sell-off in Italian government bonds, a significant part of the banks' portfolios.

Intesa Sanpaolo, BPER Banca, Unicredit and UBI Banca fell sharply, down by 4% to 5.6%, while Poste Italiane also tumbled 4.5%.

Italy's central bank warned the country was only "steps" away from losing investors' confidence.

"We must never forget that we are only ever a few short steps away from the very serious risk of losing the irreplaceable asset of trust," Ignazio Visco, the governor of the Bank of Italy, said.

Italy has been without a government since inconclusive elections on 4 March, at which voters flocked to anti-establishment and far-right parties the Five Star Movement and League Nord to leave a hung parliament.

Carlo Cottarelli, a former International Monetary Fund official, has accepted a mandate to form a technocratic and politically "neutral" government, but has admitted Italians could face a snap poll if he does not win parliamentary support for his interim administration.

A man stands to look electoral posters in Pomigliano D'Arco, near Naples, Italy, February 21, 2018 2:44
Investors fear there is a risk of the eurozone breaking up as fresh elections might give the two populist parties a more eurosceptic mandate.

Renewed concerns caused the Frankfurt-based Sentix research group's eurozone break-up index to climb to its highest level since April 2017, when investors feared a eurosceptic Le Pen presidency in France.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.58% lower on concerns about Italy and a warning from investment bank JP Morgan that markets revenue would be flat in the second quarter.

The FTSE 100 closed down 1.26%, wiping £25bn from stocks. RBS and Barclays were among the biggest fallers with shares tumbling more than 3%.

The stress in Italy also spread to other eurozone markets, with Portuguese stocks sliding by 2.6%,

In Spain, which is in the throes of its own political crisis as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy faces a no-confidence vote later this week, stocks closed down 2.4%.