Following the seemingly endless procession of short-squeeze-fueling trial balloons last week - from settlement rumors to German blue-chip bailouts to Qatari investors - Germany's Bild newspaper confirms the rumors that sparked weakness on Friday: Deutsche bank CEO John Cryan has failed to reach an agreement with the US Justice Department.

Having soared over 25% off the briefly single-digit price levels thanks to well-chosen rumor headlines of an "imminent settlement", news and facts on Friday started to eat away at that confidence...