Three men suspected of ties to al-Qaeda have been arrested in Spain along with explosive material. Three other men have been arrested in connection to the weapons and explosives discovered after an operation by Spanish police.
Spain’s Interior Minister said the men are believed to have been planning a major attack in Spain or Europe. Continue reading →
The president of the European Central Bank said they will do “whatever it takes” to keep the euro solvent bringing a run on various stock markets.
The Spanish Ibex share index jumped 6% on the news with the main share index closing up 5.6% The news also drew Spain’s 10-year bonds down .6% from the record high it had been maintaining for weeks. Continue reading →
Germany’s AAA credit rating is in danger of a downgrade after Moody’s changed the outlook for the nation’s credit to negative. The move is a possible first step into downgrading the country’s overall rating.
Moody’s stated that the exit of Greece from the Euro is increasing and the increasing financial decline in Spain. A full bailout of Spain is considered to be more likely as the cost of Spanish bonds remains at a record high. Continue reading →
Hundreds of Spanish firemen, police officers and nurses marched yelling through the streets Monday, denouncing as “robbery” the pay cuts enforced under Spain’s latest fiscal emergency plan. Continue reading →
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced the country’s sales tax would rise from 18% to 21% and that local governments would have their budgets significantly cut in an attempt to appease Eurozone regulators after the country requested a financial bailout.
Rajoy’s plans state it should save the country $80 billion. Continue reading →
Spain finally made a formal request for euro zone rescue loans to bail out banks overwhelmed with bad debts on Monday. The euro and bank shares fell mainly on speculation that the European Union summit this week will not act decisively on the crisis.
Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos requested 100 billion euros in a letter sent to the Euro group chairman. The final amount of assistance could be less than the requested total. Continue reading →
Eurozone ministers are gathering in Luxembourg to discuss plans to lower government borrowing costs as Spain’s bond yields hit a 16 year high.
The government paid a yield of 6.07% on five year bonds up from 4.96% in May. The 2.2 billion euros raised will fund 61% of the Spanish government’s operations and debt payments for the rest of 2012. Continue reading →
Spain’s economic woes took another hit when credit agency Moody’s cut the country’s bond rating three notches to Baa3. The rating is just one notch above classifying Spanish bonds as “junk bonds.”
The credit dip was attributed directly to the country’s 100 billion euro bailout from fellow euro zone countries that was approved over the weekend. Lenders have been stating concern for Spain’s future in the euro zone as a result of their continuing banking woes. Continue reading →
Optimism about Spain’s banking bailout is fading fast after reports that Spain’s borrowing costs have risen to the highest point since the creation of the euro.
The benchmark 10-year bond yield peaked at 6.81%. The news created some ripples throughout the European Union as Italy’s 10-year bond yield hit 6.28%, the highest rate since January. Continue reading →
Struggling banks led Spain to be the fourth and largest European Union nation to ask for a bailout. The country will receive up to 100 billion euro, however, some of the member nations, like the UK, are not contributing to the loan.
The news of the bailout initially sent worldwide stock markets soaring but the enthusiasm quickly wore off and many markets were trading lower than opening by mid-morning. Ratings agency Fitch downgraded the rating for two Spanish banks two ranks from A to BBB+. Fitch attributed the move to last week’s downgrade of Spain’s sovereign credit rating. Continue reading →