This study finds that equity returns in the banking sector in the wake of the Great Recession and the European sovereign debt crisis have been driven mainly by weak growth prospects and heightened sovereign risk and to a lesser extent, by deteriorating funding conditions and investor sentiment....

The European crisis came to an end when first political leaders and then the European Central Bank promised to do whatever it takes to safeguard the euro. Specifically they committed to create a European banking union and to buy unlimited amounts of sovereign debt in distressed markets for...