China's Large Trade Deficit causes European Stocks to Fall

China recently had their biggest trade deficit in 12 years. This sparked concerns from miners and oil firms that commodity prices would drop and there'd be slower demand in China, which is the world's second largest economy. The country did indeed report a $31.48 billion deficit for February after they had a $27.28 billion surplus in January. This signals an economic slowdown in China which could potentially lead to a global slowdown.

In London, miners and energy firms also took a hit in the stock market this week. Banks were also down due to continued focus on the developments in Greece's debt restructuring. Immediately after Greece's success with its debt restructuring, new Greek government bonds that were issued surged to the highest levels in the eurozone. This indicates that many are skeptical about Greece's ability to reach a sustainable debt level. Nonetheless, it is expected that the finance minsters will agree to Greece's second bailout later today.

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