Politics
Crisis in Catalonia: What You Need to Know
Rebels in Barcelona are playing cat-and-mouse with police before a vote that could jeopardize Spain's economy.
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Catalonia’s campaign for independence comes to a head on Sunday, when the rebel administration in Barcelona will attempt to hold a referendum on independence in defiance of Spain’s Constitutional Court and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government in Madrid.
Investors so far have shrugged off what has become the gravest constitutional crisis to befall Spain since the country returned to democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco four decades ago. Spain’s benchmark IBEX 35 index has outperformed peers this year while the extra yield that investors demand to hold Spanish bonds instead of German debt is little changed from last September.