Spain’s Travails Must Be a Wake-Up Call for Euro Leaders

Europe’s leaders were hoping their debt crisis had taken a break for the summer. On Monday, financial markets announced they were in no mood to relax.

Spanish bond yields surged to new highs, forcing the European Union to contemplate its fourth and biggest sovereign bailout, after Greece, Portugal and Ireland. On top of this, fear that Greece might have to leave the euro mounted again, after reports that it won’t meet the terms of its latest aid program. Italy and Spain announced emergency curbs on short-selling of securities. Investors hammered stocks on both sides of the Atlantic -- a reminder, if anyone needed it, of the global ramifications of this crisis.