Spanish stocks up after nine days of beatings

After nine consecutive days of losses, Spanish stocks surged on Thursday with the market making a substantial gain that has not been seen since January. The blue chip Ibex 35 was up at 283.40 points, or 3.56 percent, closing on 8,249.40 points.

Spain's risk premium also dropped, closing at 269 basis points over the benchmark German bund - 10 points lower than at Wednesday's close. The bourse improvement was being attributed to a number of factors, including the announcement of a meeting set for Tuesday between the leaders of France and Germany to discuss the euro-zone's financial troubles.

All of the Ibex's important players closed with gains. Up 5.9 percent, Ferrovial was the biggest winner. Banco Santander, which took a beating on Wednesday by ending the session with a 8.33 percent drop, was also up at 3.2 percent.

Meanwhile, Economy Minister Elena Salgado and her deputy José Manuel Campa took to the airwaves to try to explain the current turbulence in the global markets.

Calling it an "unusual summer storm," Campa said people shouldn't "worry too much" about the markets.

Speaking on another radio station, Salgado interpreted the current financial instability as a "consequence" of the "doubts of economic recovery and growth prospects" in the developing world and industrialized nations.

She said that the European Central Bank "did the right thing" and "what we expected" in approving a bond-purchasing program for Spain and Italy. The measure has come under fire from some politicians in Germany, who have suggested that troubled EU states sell off their gold reserves.

Meanwhile, the Popular Party (PP) is demanding that Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero appear before Congress to explain "the serious financial situation" the country is faced with. PP parliamentary spokeswoman Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría criticized the Socialist leader for not calling an urgent congressional session, as other European leaders have been doing over the past few days.

"No one in this government has taken charge of this situation, which is becoming more unbearable each day," she said.

Campa explained that the government's reaction has differed from that of France and Italy because "Spain was ahead with these steps, which are only now being announced by other countries."