The sell-off in Italian stocks accelerated in afternoon trade on Monday, with banks leading the way lower amid an uptick in political worries.

The no-confidence vote to oust Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy will take place on Friday this week, according to leading Spanish newspaper El País, with the future of the Spanish government in the balance.

Sergio Mattarella, Italy’s president, has tapped Carlo Cottarelli, a former senior IMF official, to lead a transitional government and steady Italian politics after the unraveling of a bid to run the eurozone’s third largest economy by two populist parties.

The price of Italian government debt has fallen sharply in Monday’s trading, carrying bond yields to levels last seen in the aftermath of the eurozone debt crisis.

Markets turned sour on Monday in response to Italy’s fresh political crisis sparked by the collapse of a populist coalition amid mounting concern that the country will be thrown into fractious early elections.

The lira climbed vigorously against the dollar on Monday, recovering some of last week’s sharp losses, after Turkey’s central bank unveiled changes aimed at simplifying its monetary policy.

New Zealand said on Monday it would cull more than 150,000 cattle in an attempt to eradicate mycoplasma bovis – a debilitating animal disease that threatens the profitability of its multibillion dollar a year dairy and cattle industries.

SoftBank and Swiss Re have confirmed the collapse of talks over the Japanese company taking a minority stake in the reinsurance group.

US officials have crossed over into North Korea for bilateral talks, raising hopes that the Singapore summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un could still take place despite days of diplomatic ups and downs. 

Malaysia’s threat to cancel a suite of Chinese-backed infrastructure projects could ultimately be positive for the south-east Asian country’s economy despite probably slowing the pace of headline growth, according to one economist.

South Korean prosecutors on Monday raided the headquarters of Samsung Securities as part of their probe into the brokerage’s massive “fat finger” trade last month.

Oil prices continued to push lower from their highest levels in nearly four years on Monday amid reports of a looming output increase from several major producers. 

Asia Pacific equities were mixed on Monday as lower oil prices dragged on energy stocks and Donald Trump suggested his summit with Kim Jong Un was back on.

Brazil’s President Michel Temer late on Sunday announced last-ditch measures to try to end a week-long truckers’ strike that has paralysed Latin America’s largest economy and threatened to undermine his government.

The euro firmed on Monday after Italy’s populists parties dropped their bid to form a government following the Italian president’s block on the nomination of a Eurosceptic finance minister.

Asia-Pacific energy stocks fell on Monday after news that Opec was considering increasing production prompted oil prices to plunge on Friday.

US officials have crossed over into North Korea for bilateral talks, raising hopes that the Singapore summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un could still take place despite days of diplomatic ups and downs.

Starbucks is closing 8,000 stores across the US for sensitivity training on Tuesday afternoon, but don’t let caffeine deprivation overshadow the US jobs report later that week, as well as political developments in Spain and Italy.

Ireland is on track to repeal its 35-year constitutional ban on abortion by landslide majority, according to exit poll that predicts a huge victory for Leo Varadkar in his first electoral contest.

Italy’s political uncertainty has prompted Moody’s to put the country’s rating on review for a possible downgrade.

The one-year rolling sum of shareholder returns by US companies has crossed the $1tn mark for the first time in history, as executives plough much of their tax cut-boosted earnings into stock buybacks and dividends.

Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, called out the army to break a truckers’ strike this week that has paralysed the nation as fuel supplies run out in major cities, shutting petrol stations, threatening livestock with starvation and scaling back flights.

SoulCycle, the indoor cycling business that took city fitness buffs by storm, has decided to shelve plans to go public nearly three years after filing an IPO prospectus.

Energy proved the biggest drag on stocks this week amid a drop in crude prices but failed to keep Wall Street from clocking a weekly gain as utilities advanced.