Strangling Greece: Contagion fears back on Greek bailout uncertainty
Mounting confusion over whether Greece will get vital bailout cash to avoid defaulting next month is rekindling fears that Europe's debt crisis will spread to bigger countries like Italy. - As stocks and the euro fell sharply on Thursday, borrowing rates rose for Italy and Spain, an indication of renewed investor concerns that they will eventually be dragged back into the crisis that had shown some signs of easing over the past couple of months. The pressure on the two countries had eased substantially in recent weeks, primarily because the European Central Bank offered super-cheap long-term loans to banks. But new jitters were creeping into markets as worries grew about a default in Greece next month. The country has yet to clinch deals for a bailout worth euro130 billion ($170 billion) and an accompanying euro100 billion ($131 billion) debt writedown by private bondholders.