EU news: Chief strategist warns SMART people worry about European Union
The Sandler and O'Neill & Partners chief strategist warned the European Union continues to pose a great risk to the global markets because of the instability of the euro. Political instability in Italy and continued concerns over Brexit have pushed the price of the EU common currency down in a torrid week for European traders. Speaking to CNBC, Mr Albertson said: "It’s really smart to worry about Europe. "The euro has always been, in my mind, the St Andreas Fault. And I joke people live in California, they know it’s there – but it’s still there."
GETTY•CNBC EU News: Robert Albertson warned Europe remains the "biggest risk" to financial markets
On Monday, Italy's President Sergio Mattarella vetoed the appointment of anti-euro economist Paolo Savona as Finance Minister. The decision has effectively blocked a populist coalition Government between the Five-Star Movement (M5S) and Lega from forming. Markets reacted poorly to the political uncertainty, with the Italian stock market plummeting down 3 percent on Tuesday after losing 10 percent throughout May. Mr Albertson continued: "That’s going to be an instability that will always haunt us and my presumption is this eventually settles down or we have a rather headachy summer until it does.
That’s going to be an instability that will always haunt us Robert Albertson