Spain

Euro-zone governments are counting on the European Central Bank to provide most of the firepower if Spain requests a bailout, with only a modest contribution coming from the bloc's bailout fund, senior officials said, The Wall Street Journal reported. The governments hope to earmark significantly less than €100 billion ($131 billion) from their €500 billion bailout fund if Spain requests help, the senior euro-zone officials said.

A potential Spanish request for financial aid is becoming caught up in tangled diplomacy between euro-zone capitals, despite Madrid's new willingness to push ahead, The Wall Street Journal reported. A day after a senior Spanish official told reporters that German concerns were preventing Madrid from seeking assistance, German officials insisted Spain hadn't indicated it wants aid. Italy, meanwhile, continued to urge Spain to apply for help in the hope that the step would ease market pressure on its own bonds.

A Spanish court has accepted a filing for bankruptcy from two investment firms that own 31 percent of French property company Gecina, Reuters reported. Alteco and MAG Import filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 3 after a bank refused to refinance a 1.6 billion euro ($2 billion) loan, leaving nearly a dozen lenders exposed. Alteco and MAG Import met conditions for voluntary bankruptcy, two Spanish mercantile courts said in documents released on Tuesday. French bank Natixis has the most exposure to the loan, at 266 million euros.

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Thursday came under increased pressure to ask for a European Union bailout after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services slashed the country's credit rating to leave it teetering just above speculative-grade, or "junk" status, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Spain’s debt rating was cut to one level above junk by Standard & Poor’s, which cited mounting economic and political risks as the government considers a second bailout, Bloomberg reported. The negative outlook on the long-term rating reflects our view of the significant risks to Spain’s economic growth and budgetary performance, and the lack of a clear direction in euro-zone policy,” S&P said.

Two Spanish investment firms that own 31 percent of French property company Gecina have filed one of the biggest bankruptcy actions in Spanish history after a bank refused to refinance a 1.6 billion euro ($2.1 billion) loan, Reuters reported. The potential bankruptcy is the latest chapter in Spain's debt saga since its 2008 real estate crash, which forced banks to write billions of euros off property investments.

Senior executives from Spain’s second-biggest bank, BBVA, met National Asset Management Agency officials yesterday as the Spanish authorities announced further details of a “bad bank” to purge toxic loans from its lenders, the Irish Times reported. Spanish bankers and government officials have been studying the Irish “bad bank” model as Madrid sets up a vehicle to acquire toxic real-estate loans and repossessed properties from the banks.

Spanish unemployment rose 1.7% in September from August, the country's labor ministry said Tuesday, evidence that unemployment in the euro zone's fourth-largest economy has yet to peak as Spain struggles to emerge from a deep contraction, The Wall Street Journal reported. More Spaniards have give up and are looking for work elsewhere.

Spain is ready to request a euro zone bailout for its public finances as early as next weekend but Germany has signaled that it should hold off, European officials said on Monday. The latest twist in the euro zone's three-year-old sovereign debt crisis comes as financial markets and some other European partners are pressuring Madrid to seek a rescue program that would trigger European Central Bank buying of its bonds, Reuters reported. "The Spanish were a bit hesitant but now they are ready to request aid," a senior European source said.

Spanish discount supermarket chain Dia is to acquire the Spanish and Portuguese arms of insolvent German drugstore chain Schlecker, it said on Friday, to diversify its product range and expand its presence in the two countries, Reuters reported. Dia has agreed to pay 70.5 million euros ($90.6 million) for Schlecker's 1,127 stores and three distribution centres in Spain and 41 stores and one distribution centre in Portugal. Schlecker filed for insolvency in January. The German company reported net sales of 318 million euros on the Iberian peninsula in 2011.