BoE holds rates, markets fall on Portugal

The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged on Thursday after its monetary policy meeting.

Markets tumbled anyway on Thursday amid increasing concern over signs of financial stress in Portugal. The S&P fell 0.4 percent while the STOXX Europe 600 fell 1.1 percent.

Portugal’s 10-year bond yield jumped 21 basis points to 3.97 percent as trading in Banco Espirito Santo, the nation’s second-largest lender, was suspended following a sell-off in the stock after its parent missed debt payments.

Not helping the mood for investors was a report from Japan on Thursday that showed that core machinery orders fell by a record 19.5 percent in May.

More encouragingly for Japan, other reports on Thursday showed that its tertiary industry index rose 0.9 percent in May and its consumer confidence index rose to 41.1 in June from 39.3 in May.

Also positive on Thursday were trade data from China. The country's trade surplus rose in June after exports rose 7.2 percent last month compared to the previous year while imports rose 5.5 percent.