Italy is the financial weak link in the EU of any consequence. High debt to GDP with a bulk of it owed to France. If you were looking to bring down the EU, the first domino would be Italy. The graphics are older but useful for showing the relationships.
I think the UK is playing ball due to not being included in the travel ban. I am looking for some trade deals in the next couple of weeks. Yes, they got problems, bit they can still be papered over. Italy's can't.
Whenever gold looks good someone sells a few (hundred) million to drive the price down. (PPT)
Sauce?