Spanish bond slump sends sharemarkets tumbling
Wall Street is down 1% after European markets fell an average 2.5%.
Spanish bonds tanked, sending sharemarkets tumbling.
Investors consider Spain is at grave risk of needing a bailout to shore up its troubled banking sector and government finances.
The 10-year bond yield shot up a fifth of a percentage point to 7.49% after a similar rise on Friday.
The benchmark index tumbled more than 5% before the market regulator moved to ban short-selling of all stocks for three months. The index ended 1.1% down.
All European markets also fell. Greece slumped the worst at 7.1%.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index tumbled 2.5% to close at 251.75, compounding a 1.4% loss on Friday.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 127 points, or 1.0%, at 12,695 entering the final hour of trading.
In China, the Shanghai Composite fell 1.3% to its lowest close since March 2009.
Oil for August delivery skidded $US2.32, or 2.5%, to $US889.12 a barrel in New York.
The euro slipped below $1.21 to a two-year low against the dollar before recovering somewhat.
Nevil Gibson
Tue, 24 Jul 2012
Tue, 24 Jul 2012
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Spanish bond slump sends sharemarkets tumbling
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