Spain's official jobless rate continued to climb in the third quarter, hitting a record of more than 25% and signaling the country's struggle to emerge from a deep contraction, The Wall Street Journal reported. The euro zone's fourth-largest economy is suffering from the collapse of a decadelong housing bubble and from deep spending cuts as the government tries to narrow its budget deficit. Spain's unemployment rate is the highest in the euro zone.

Portugal needs to make tough policy choices to close a “large and durable fiscal gap” amid rising social hardship and growing political and social resistance to more austerity, the International Monetary Fund warned on Thursday, the Financial Times reported. The government would have to strike a balance between “strong additional” adjustment measures and “avoiding undue strains on the economy and employment”, the fund said in a report on Lisbon’s progress with its €78bn bailout programme.

Spanish telecom giant Telefónica SA, one of the world's most indebted companies, could establish two units—one in Latin America and one in Europe—to protect itself from any further worsening of Spain's economic troubles, its chief financial officer said, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company, among Spain's largest by market capitalization and a once-proud symbol of its boom-time expansion, is immersed in the country's troubles.

The world's biggest banks are drawing up tactics to strengthen their hand in future sovereign debt restructurings, as they seek to avoid another situation similar to the Greek debt talks, when government pushed them into accepting to tens of billions of euros in writedowns, Reuters reported on an International Financing Review story.

Another drop in lending to companies in the 17-country eurozone showed the economic downturn is deepening, as a brighter mood on financial markets fails to catch on with businesses, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The European Central Bank said Thursday that loans to non-bank businesses shrank 1.4 percent year on year in September, double the 0.7 percent contraction reported the month before. The numbers show the economy is struggling despite efforts by the central bank to stimulate credit and calm financial markets fearful that the eurozone might break up.

Hibu, the crisis-hit publisher of Yellow Pages, said it would halt repayments to its lenders as it waits for a restructure, warning shareholders that their holdings are likely to end up worthless, The Telegraph reported. The company, formerly known as Yell, has been crippled by the rapid rise of internet search engines such as Google and the debts it racked up during an acquisition spree overseas. Hibu’s lenders, to which it owes £2.3bn, are expecting a debt-for-equity swap, which will see creditors take over the company.

Punch Taverns said it was in talks to restructure its debt after the leased pub group posted a sharp drop in full-year profit, blaming Britain's wet summer and disruption caused by a major business overhaul, Reuters reported. Like many British pub companies, Punch was hit hard by the country's double-dip recession and is trying to reduce 2.1 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) of debt built up before the economic downturn. Punch said on Wednesday that the cost of servicing that debt was unsustainable and it was in discussions with major shareholders and other stakeholders over a restructuring.

The German government is urging “compulsory” hiring of outside experts to help collect taxes, fight corruption and privatise government assets in Greece in return for agreeing an overhauled bailout that would include two more years of EU aid for Athens, the Financial Times reported. The measures would go further than ever before in asserting international control over Greek budgetary decision-making.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble suggested on Wednesday that his country may be prepared to show flexibility on Greece's fulfilment of its bailout terms if there are obstacles that are beyond Greece's control, Reuters reported. Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said earlier on Wednesday that Athens had been given additional time by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to implement new austerity measures.

Four out of five Supreme Court judges have found the High Court was entitled to jail Seán Quinn jnr for three months over “outrageous” contempt of court orders restraining the stripping of assets from the Quinn’s international property group, the Irish Times reported.