Spain set to raise money on markets

Spain, in a desperate bid to avoid a bailout, said it will raise money on the markets and use its own funds to fund banks and several of the semi-autonomous regions in the country.

Borrowing costs for 10-year bonds at 6.47% moved ever closer to the 7% mark for Spain — the point at which Ireland, Portugal, and Greece were forced to seek a bailout from the EU and IMF.

An increasing number of nervous investors opted for German bonds as a safe haven, accepting record low payments of 1.345% and driving the spread between them and Spanish debt to a euro-era high of 5.16%.