European stocks are expected to open lower on Wednesday amid concerns over Spain and Greece’s finances and following a rare earnings miss by Apple. With Spain’s borrowing costs soaring after an auction of short term debt on Tuesday an alarm signal was sounded when the cost of borrowing over 5 years rose above the cost of 10 year borrowing.

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 24 points lower with the DAX called down by 58 points and the CAC 40 is seen down by 17 points.

Spain’s finance minister Luis de Guindos met with his German counterpart in Berlin late Tuesday with both ministers warning Spain’s borrowing costs were too high and calling for swift EU action on a banking union they hope will help stabilize the euro zone debt crisis.

Adding to the negative sentiment was news that the region of Catalonia, which includes Barcelona and accounts for one fifth of Spain’s economic output, said it was considering whether to take state aid to meet its financing needs. CNBC’s Carolin Schober will report live from Barcelona on Wednesday with Stephane Pedrazzi bringing you the latest market moves from the Spanish stock exchange in Madrid.

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