Bonds: Calm winds on interest-front

There was relatively quiet on the bond markets in Europe Tuesday, where a lack of news and remain closed trading in the U.S. meant very little fluctuation in interest rates.

Spain's economic growth lagged not quite as much as economists feared in the third quarter. Growth in gross domestic product, GDP, was Tuesday morning amounted to minus 1.6 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period last year. Economists had expected a decline of 1.7 percent, which was in line with data earlier this month from the Bank of Spain.

Europe: Fall dominated

European stocks closed in red on Tuesday. Measured on the Stoxx 600-index, there was a decrease of 0.5 percent to 270.20. 441 of the index 600 shares fell. The three largest stock markets in Europe closed lower. In Britain, there was a decrease of 0.5 percent and in Germany of 0.8 percent, while shares in France fell by 0.7 percent.

Euro rescue fund with 500 billion euro is ready

Two years after the euro countries started to design a new, permanent rescue fund for their ailing economies, the fund - called ESM – is now a reality.

Economy and finance ministers from the 17 euro countries are Monday meeting in Luxembourg to founding the board of the fund, which should eventually be able to support problem countries with up to 500 billion euro.

Bonds: The Spanish problems pours in

The yield spread between South and North Europe widened considerably Wednesday, when there were major decline in interest rates in Northern Europe and significant increases in Southern Europe and especially Spain.

Europe: Investors pulled back

European investors pulled back from the stock market Monday after a weekend, which showed that Germany and France still does not quite agree to how the crisis should be handled. While France wants as quickly as possible a launch of a joint bank union, German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not want to set a time for it.

Moody's: EU credit in the balance

The credit rating of the EU is in danger of being lowered.

The rating agency Moody's said that it has changed its outlook for the current assessment of the EU in a negative direction. It is usually a warning that creditworthiness will soon be downgraded.