Decisive week for euro

The requests by Spain and Cyprus for bailouts from the European Union on Monday have rubbed salt into the wound of the eurozone crisis and made decisive action at the EU leaders' summit in Brussels even more urgent.

Spain's financial crisis is driven by a major commercial bank, Bankia, which, on top of earlier state aid of $5.7 billion, requested $23.7 billion in new emergency capital. But Moody's downgraded 28 Spanish banks on Monday.

Spain wants the bailout funds to go directly to its ailing banks, however eurozone rules require that they be funneled through Madrid, which would add to Spain's sovereign debt.