From Justin Spittler, Analyst, Casey Research:

European bank stocks are crashing.

Deutsche Bank (DB), Germany’s largest bank, has plunged 36% this year. Its stock is at an all-time low.

Credit Suisse (CS), a major Swiss bank, has plummeted 40% this year to its lowest level since 1991.

As you can see in the chart below, the STOXX Europe 600 Banks Index, which tracks Europe’s biggest banks, is down 27% this year. It’s fallen six weeks in a row, its longest losing streak since the 2008 financial crisis.

These are huge drops in a short six-week period. It’s the kind of price action you’d expect to see during a major financial crisis.

The selloff in Europe’s banks has dragged down other European stocks. The STOXX Europe 600 Index, which tracks 600 large European stocks, is down 15% this year to its lowest level since October 2013.

European banks are struggling to…