Spain will need no further austerity measures until the end of next year even though it will easily miss its deficit targets, the EU’s top economic official announced on Wednesday in the clearest sign yet Brussels is backing away from an austerity-focused crisis response, the Financial Times reported. The clean bill of health from Olli Rehn, EU economic commissioner, does not set new budget targets for this year or next. Instead, his assessment gives approval based on the structural reforms proposed by Madrid as part of its budget plan unveiled in September.

Spain's largest banks said Monday they had agreed to a two-year freeze on evictions of homeowners "in extreme financial need," amid a public uproar following the suicides of two homeowners facing expulsion, The Wall Street Journal reported. The decision by the Spanish banking association AEB, for what it called "humanitarian reasons," came as leaders of the governing Popular Party and the opposition Socialists were to begin working on a bipartisan deal to change Spain's mortgage laws, some of which date back to the early 1900s.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy signalled Tuesday that he is in no hurry to ask for a financial rescue, saying he wants to be certain that activating the euro zone's new bailout mechanism would bring a significant improvement in Spain's borrowing costs, The Wall Street Journal reported. Though most analysts believe Spain will need assistance as it overhauls its ailing economy, the European Central Bank's recent promise of massive government bond purchases for countries seeking bailouts has brought down borrowing costs for Spain and other struggling euro-zone countries.

Tour operator Orizonia is restructuring around 640 million euros ($818 million) of loans, according to people close to talks with creditors, as it battles to survive Spain's economic downturn, Reuters reported. Private equity-owned Orizonia, formerly known as Iberostar, has a cash hole in its finances after revenues slumped as the euro zone crisis intensified, a senior investor said. The travel company is expected to complete a debt restructuring by the end of November.

The story of housing boom and housing bust, debt and unemployment is repeated in towns and villages across Spain. It weighs heavily on the Spanish government as it ponders the political dangers and economic merits of a European Union bailout, the Financial Times reported. But for millions of Spaniards, the country’s severe recession is above all else a fact of daily life, reflected in empty storefronts and crowded soup kitchens, in crushing personal debt, skipped mortgage payments and the looming threat of eviction.

Spain's so-called bad bank will buy billions of euros worth of distressed loans and foreclosed property from commercial lenders for around half the book value, a discount that could weigh on the finances of its weakest banks as the government decides whether to seek assistance from the euro zone's bailout fund, The Wall Street Journal reported. New details of the government-run asset-management firm's plans were released Monday as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insisted again that Spain, the frailest of Europe's large economies, doesn't need a new bailout at the moment.

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.

At the Leganes toll booth outside Madrid, the workers scan the horizon for cars. In Spain's recession, the stream of paying drivers has slowed to a trickle and the toll road is all but bankrupt. Like the housing bubble, pumped up until it burst in 2008, and its speculation-funded phantom airports, the folly of Spain's road-building boom too is now being laid bare in vast stretches of tarmac, Agence France-Presse reported. "Right now we can't meet our debt repayments.

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.

European authorities are pushing Bankia group to impose losses on junior debtholders as part of Spain’s bank bailout by swapping their securities for stock in the nationalized lender, two people with knowledge of the matter said, Reuters reported. The European Central Bank and European Commission want investors including preference shareholders to accept newly issued shares in exchange for their existing securities to help reduce the cost to the taxpayer of Spain’s 100 billion-euro ($130 billion) bank rescue, said the people, who declined to be named because the matter isn’t public.