The Spanish Treasury held a bond auction on Tuesday during which it managed to sell €4.86 billion worth of 12 and 18-month government bonds, beating the targeted amount of €4.5 billion. Interest rates declined slightly, compared to those seen at the previous auction.

€3.4billion of 12-month bills were sold at an average yield of 2.823% (cover 2.71 vs 2.03), down from 2.835% seen on September 18. €1.46 billion of 1.5-year bonds were auctioned at an average yield of 3.022%, versus 3.072% (cover 3.04 vs 3.56).

S&P downgrades 15 Spanish banks

Following Standard & Poor's decision last week to cut Spain's rating by two notches to 'BBB-' the rating agency went on to downgrade 15 Spanish banks on Tuesday (including a cut of long-term ratings of 11 banks and a cut of short-term ratings in case of 4 banks). BBVA, CaixaBank and Barclays passed to BBB- while Santander and Banesto were assigned BBB. Sabadell, Banco Popular, BFA-Bankia and Santander Consumer are among other affected lenders.

Standard & Poor's announced that the downgrade had been carried out in case of these financial institutions which had a credit rating above that held by Spain at the moment, namely BBB-. The rating agency added that its assessment of the Spanish financial sector would not be completed before November.

Delays in Spain and Greece; vacant EU Summit looms

No hopes on a ready agreement between Greece and the Troika before Thursday's EU summit according to Greek finance minister Giannis Stournaras. And no bailout until November in line of the report published by Reuters on the back of eurozone officials familiar with the negotiations.

"It is difficult to reach an agreement by the EU Summit" said Greece's Finance Minister Giannis Stournaras on Monday after meeting with Troika's officials. "There is still the issue of the debt sustainability and the financing gap," Stournaras added and pointed that "all show that we are heading towards an emergency Eurogroup" meeting.

"It is difficult to reach an agreement by the EU Summit. Negotiations are progressing but there are a lot issues still open. Structural and fiscal measures will be determined just before or just after the Summit," states the Greece minister.

On the other hand, talks from German press say that Greece would have a extension of two years to repay its bailout loans. This "has helped lower Greek-German bond spreads to their narrowest in 6 months when the restructuring took place," as said Jamie Coleman from Forexlive.com.

The budget would be voted after summit and next bailout tranche to be disbursed in the middle of November.

In the same line, German Angela Merkel has commented the necessities that all euro members must do their homework and there is not "fast solution to the crisis."

Spain bailout seen in November - Reuters

Headlines over the weekend are pointing towards a Spanish bailout next month, according to a report from Reuters, citing eurozone officials familiar with the negotiations. Authorities are also intending to include within the Spanish aid package a revised loan programme for Greece and a bailout for Cyprus.

From Reuters: "The Spanish government is considering the conditions of such a rescue package and has said it would take a decision only once it has more clarity on the conditions and the scope of the aid."

"We're moving, we're taking steps, we're preparing it, things will crystallize in November," said a senior official directly involved in talks and cited by Reuters. "I am confident this will happen in November" the official added.

A second senior source cited by Reuters: "If I had to bet, it would rather be in November than in October, if ever. Then it would be a package - you would have Greece and Cyprus and Spain. I think not Slovenia. This is because the Germans and others do not want to go many times to national parliaments and have painful, tortuous debates there."

IMF begins inspection on Spain's financial sector

Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund (IMF) inspectors arrived to Madrid on Monday to begin an 11-day inspection of the Spain's financial sector as part of the bank bailout agreed last June.

The IMF's goal is to present a report to Brussels on the state of the banks' recapitalization plan. This inspection will only be dealing with the Spain's banks and not its progress on the implementation of austerity measures.

The EU pledged to give Spain a €100 billion bailout to fund the nation's banks, although an independent test by Oliver Wyman reported that only €60 billion were needed.