Stocks Down Big Overnight

On news that Germany banned certain kinds of short-selling, stocks are down across the globe.

At 8:01 ET, the FTSE is down 2.19%


The Eurofirst 300 is down 2.30%

The Stoxx 50 is down 2.83%

In Asia the Nikkei 250 closed down 0.54% and the Shanghai Index closed down 0.27%.

Banning of short selling suggests that either a major German financial institution is in trouble or Germans intend to wrong headedly fight the current Euro crisis with heavy handed regulations that will make it difficult for markets to function.