World markets wary amid uncertainty over Spain rescue

BRUSSELS — World markets fluctuated today as uncertainty reigned over whether Europe’s plan to rescue Spain’s ailing banks would be enough to prevent the continent’s debt crisis from infecting other economies, such as Italy.

Stocks surged early Monday as investors seemed to bestow their approval on a weekend deal to make $125 billion available to Spain to revive banks crushed by bad real estate loans. But those gains were erased by the time markets closed, as observers worried the money might just add to the Spanish government’s debts and maybe eventually force it to seek its own bailout.

As a sign of investor wariness of Spain, the yield, or interest rate, on its 10-year benchmark bond shot up. It was still climbing, reaching 6.6 percent. That’s dangerously close to the 7 percent yield that has forced other countries to seek rescue loans. Italy’s yields also were rising.

Stock markets in Europe were eking out some gains, but the tremendous volatility over the past day proves that Europe’s problems are far from over.

France’s CAC-40 rose 0.3 percent to 3,053, while the DAX in Germany gained 0.6 percent at 6,177. The FTSE index of leading British shared climbed 0.4 percent to 5,452. The euro also moved up, rising 0.2 percent to $1.2501.

Wall Street was also set to open higher, with Dow futures up 0.6 percent at 12,385 and S&P 500 futures 0.5 percent higher at 1,307.20.

“ ‘Fragile’ is perhaps the most appropriate word to describe sentiment at present,” said Ben Critchley, a sales trader with IG Index. “Yesterday’s trading showed that even 100 billion (euros) is not sufficient to rebuild battered investor confidence, and Spanish and Italian yields are creeping higher once again.”

As always with the eurozone crisis, concern about one country is never limited to that country. If Spain needs help, investors might worry that Italy will, too. Both are enormous economies — the fourth- and third-largest in the currency bloc, respectively — and many think the eurozone cannot afford to rescue them.

Italy’s government on Monday confirmed that the country’s recession is deepening. The economy contracted at a quarterly rate of 0.8 percent in the first three months of the year, the worst contraction in three years and double Spain’s rate.

Investors also are nervously eyeing a Greek election this Sunday to see if a party that has said it will throw out the country’s bailout agreement will be the big winner. The party has been rising in the polls, persuading Greeks that it can either get a better deal — after months of brutal cuts — or that Greece would be better on its own.

“Italy, of course, is never far away when we consider Spain’s situation; add Greece into that mix and you have a dangerous combination,” Critchley said.

Earlier in the day, Asian markets responded to the gloom that had settled over Europe and the U.S. late Monday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 1 percent to close at 8,536.72. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.7 percent to 1,854.74 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 0.4 percent lower at 18,872.56.

Mainland Chinese shares lost ground, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index shedding 0.5 percent to 2,289.79. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 0.4 percent to 942.18.

Amid more signs the world economy is slowing, energy prices fell, anticipating weak demand. Benchmark oil for July delivery was down 70 cents to $82.00 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Pamela Sampson contributed to this report from Bangkok.