PORTUGAL

Not wanting to leave markets complacent going into the weekend, troubling headlines continue to hit the wires from the common-currency bloc overseas.

On Thursday, the government of Denmark approved a law to legalize same-sex marriage. But many are wondering why it took so long?

Not a chance.

Xavi Hernandez and the rest of Spain head into Euro 2012 as favorites when the tournament featuring the continent's top 16 teams kicks off tomorrow in Poland and the Ukraine.

Italian banks appear close to joining Spanish banks as the euro zone's latest contribution to the financial world's endangered species list.

Spain will attempt Thursday to sell as much as 2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) of bonds at interest rates expected to be dangerously high.

Chelsea continue to be linked with further high-profile additions, while some current squad members may be on the way out of Stamford Bridge.

The focus has turned to Spain, where banking debts last week sent Liberbank, Ibercaja and Caja 3, who together hold toxic real estate assets valued at around ?11.8 billion ($14.8 billion), into merger talks.

Spain said on Tuesday that credit markets were closing to the euro zone's fourth biggest economy as finance chiefs of the Group of Seven major economies were to hold emergency talks on the currency bloc's worsening debt crisis.

Finance chiefs of the Group of Seven leading industrialized powers will hold emergency talks on the euro zone debt crisis on Tuesday in a sign of heightened global alarm about strains in the 17-nation European currency area.

Portugal will give ?6.6 billion ($8.2 billion) to its three largest banks to help them beef up their balance sheets. Receiving the capital injection are two private banks, Banco Comercial Português and Banco BPI, and state-owned Caixa Geral de Depositos.

The April trade data is likely to garner the most market attention, while the Fed Beige Book will set the tone for the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. On Thursday, markets will also be watching Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to Congress, which could provide clues on whether the Fed is ready to take additional steps to support growth.

A higher-than-expected 60.3 percent voted yes in the euro zone's only national referendum on the fiscal pact, a binding agreement which will tie the 25 signatories to hard budget targets and set fines for missing them.

While speculation swirls about whether Greece is going to drop the euro, the European Central Bank said on Wednesday that none of the eight countries trying to get in the currency bloc are ready to join.

All the latest news as Manchester United seek alternatives to Chelsea-bound Eden Hazard.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, having so far successfully fought off the idea of euro bonds, is besieged on all sides as leaders line up behind French President Francois Hollande and his appeals for the collective financial instrument.

Where to watch live coverage of England Vs. Norway, plus all the build-up to Roy Hodgson's first match in charge.

You can't blame investors for feeling a bit squeamish regarding deploying new money in the U.S. stock market these days, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average?s (DJIA) recent slide from 13,300 to 12,450 unnerving even the most experienced institutional investors. Where?s the market headed in the next six months?

Investors are increasingly making a flight to quality as they pull out of credit-default swaps hedges on Europe's primary index as well as the markets for periphery nations like Spain, a trend which indicates higher expectations that periphery nations are unable to repay their debts and a lack of confidence in the political will of the economic union.

Japan Tobacco Inc. (Tokyo: JT) is buying all outstanding shares in Belgian tobacco company Gryson NV from its parent GT&Co BVBA for ?475 million ($596.3 million), the company announced Thursday.

For centuries, the Roma people have been marginalized and misunderstood by their European neighbors. A new report by the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) sheds light on this age-old human rights issue.