Spain Jolts Global Markets - Wall Street Journal

BY CHRISTOPHER BJORK AND JONATHAN HOUSE

Fresh signs of stress among Spanish banks sent shudders through European markets on Friday and helped push U.S. stocks to their worst week this year.

New data showed Spanish bank borrowing from the European Central Bank surged to new highs in March. The report was seen as an indicator that skittish international investors had left Spain and its banks to rely on ECB funding, at a time when concerns were mounting over the country's ailing finances.

Those worries combined with broader concerns about the world economy, sparked by softer-than-expected Chinese growth, to produce a miserable day in global markets.

Investors ...