Moody's slashed its credit ratings by up to four notches for 26 Italian banks Monday, including UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, citing their vulnerability to Italy's recession and more trouble in the Eurozone.

"The ratings for Italian banks are now amongst the lowest within advanced European countries, reflecting these banks' susceptibility to the adverse operating environments in Italy and Europe," Moody's said.

Spain managed to raise €2.9 billion ($3.8 billion) in a short-term bond auction on Monday, but concerns over the future of the euro currency union pushed investors to demand higher interest rates to lend the money and caused the Madrid stock market to plummet.

The Treasury paid a rate of 3 percent to sell €2.2 billion ($2.8 billion) in 12-month notes, compared with 2.6 percent in the last such auction April 17. It paid 3.3 percent to sell €711 million ($920 million) in 18-month notes, up from 3.1 percent.

Three JPMorgan Chase senior executives are set to resign this week over the firm's $2 billion loss on derivatives trades, including the executive who oversaw the trade, U.S. media reported Sunday.

The reports came as the bank's chief executive Jamie Dimon admitted that the stunning loss had jeopardized the bank's credibility and given regulators a fresh opportunity to target Wall Street.

South Korea's main airport operator is interested in buying London's Stansted from the British Airports Authority in a bid to expand overseas business, an official said Monday.

State-owned Incheon International Airport Corp is "watching with interest" Stansted as well as Glasgow airport, the Incheon official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Oil fell in Asian trade Monday amid mounting worries over Europe's debt crisis and calls by major crude producer Saudi Arabia for prices to fall further, analysts said.

New York's main contract West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in June was down 84 cents to $95.29 per barrel while Brent North Sea crude for June shed 41 cents to $111.85 in morning trade.

Japan's hard-hit manufacturers are facing a long summer with businesses making everything from ice creams to crayons fretting production may be hampered as the now nuclear-free nation faces energy cuts.

A hot summer would usually be good news for Ezaki Glico, a major snacks and ice cream maker, with soaring temperatures increasing appetites for cooling snacks. But looming power shortages could make it difficult.

The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea agreed Sunday to start talks this year on a free-trade area, saying it would boost the economies of the entire region.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said closer regional economic integration in response to a slow global recovery and an overall rise in trade protectionism would help unlock new growth potential.

The European debt crisis is the biggest risk for the Japanese economy, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said in a weekend interview with Dow Jones Newswires, citing it as a factor behind the yen's strength.

"It is risky to just stand on the sidelines and watch. This is not just about Europe, there is a possibility that it may spread to the global economy," Noda said on Saturday.

Britain's defense secretary said he had finally balanced his department's books, in an interview out Sunday, following a week in which he made a U-turn on purchasing jets, to the annoyance of France.

Philip Hammond told The Sunday Times newspaper that he will be able to announce this week that he has fixed the £38 billion ($61 billion, 47 billion euro) so-called "black hole" in the Ministry of Defense (MoD) budget.

China's central bank is reducing the amount of reserves banks must hold in an effort to spur lending and revive a sharply slowing economy.

The People's Bank of China announced Saturday that the bank reserve ratio requirement is being reduced a half percentage point as of next Friday.