Spain successfully sold 3.1 billion euros in medium-and long-term bonds today but at a sharply higher cost, another sign that the country is struggling to convince sceptical investors that it won't need a bailout.

Now's the time for the European Central Bank president to back up his rhetoric with action

Investor confidence has fallen unexpectedly in Germany according to a new survey, in another negative sign for the eurozone economy.

The world's largest economies are faltering, a series of indicators from the OECD showed yesterday.

Central banks responded to intensifying economic storms yesterday as the Bank of England announced it will recommence its money-printing programme and the European Central Bank (ECB) cut its interest rates to a historic low.

Bank of England to print £50bn as ECB interest rates hit historic low

The European Central Bank has cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a record low of 0.75 per cent to boost a eurozone economy weighed down by the government debt crisis.

Huge transfers are still required. Without more honesty from Germany this crisis will not end well

France's new Socialist government will need to find between €7 billion (£5.6 billion) and €10 billion (£8.1 billion) for the 2012 budget to meet its deficit-cutting goals, the country's finance minister said today.

Greece is heading into the most important European summit of recent times without its new prime minister, who will remain in Athens to recover from eye surgery. The sense of a leadership vacuum has been compounded by the collapse of the new finance minister who was taken to hospital before he could be sworn into office.

The Bundesbank yesterday condemned a decision by the European Central Bank (ECB) to loosen its collateral rules in a sign of rising tension over the conduct of European liquidity operations.

Spanish and Italian bond yields shot up yesterday as market fears over the future of the eurozone came flooding back, swamping early relief over the weekend's election result in Greece.