by Calculated Risk on 7/15/2008 09:28:00 PM

From the Financial Times: Martinsa asks for creditor protection (hat tip ratefink)

One of Spain's largest property companies yesterday filed for creditor protection owing €5bn ($7.9bn), spurring a Madrid stock market sell-off and forcing banks to admit to an initial €550m in related bad loan provisions.

And from the WSJ: Global Economic Decline Appears to Be Spreading

The rising risk of recession in Europe shows that despite the strength of emerging-market economies such as Russia and China, the economic downturn that began in the U.S. last year is spreading to other regions, battering hopes that the global economy might have "decoupled" just enough that the rest of the world could coast through a U.S. downturn relatively unscathed.

More containment.