09.30 UK inflation (CPI) data is just out, showing that the rate dropped from 2.5pc last month to 2.2pc in September. 09.19 EU car sales figures (a good indicator of economic health) for September are out this morning. It's not good news: last month was the 12th consecutive fall. Demand across the 27 countries was off 10.8pc from the same month last year, with only 1.13m new registrations. However, the UK market grew 8.2pc year-on-year. 09.11 Spain's finance ministry held a press briefing last night and said that a decision on requesting a bail-out is not imminent. We reported yesterday morning that the country could ask for financial aid from the eurozone next month. The wait continues... 08.59 So, we've touched on Portugal and France this morning, now to Greece: Angela Merkel yesterday ruled out letting the debt-laden country default on its debt. Her statement is being taken as the latest sign that Germany is softening its stance on Greece, ahead of a report from the troika on its efforts to hit austerity targets demanded as conditions of its bail-out. And it looks as though that change of attitude will come just in time for Greece, which admitted yesterday that it was unlikely to be able to deliver the next €13.5bn in spending cuts which it needed to secure a further €31.5bn in bail-out cash. Without it the country will go bankrupt at the end of November. 08.51 France's business federation has warned that the country is sliding into a grave economic crisis and risks a full-blown "hurricane" as investors flee rocketing tax rates. Laurence Parisot, head of employers" group MEDEF, said: The situation is very serious. Some business leaders are in a state of quasi-panic. The pace of bankruptcies has accelerated over the summer. We are seeing a general loss of confidence by investors. Large foreign investors are shunning France altogether. It's becoming really dramatic. 08.39 The German government including Angela Merkel sees David Cameron and the British as standing on the sidelines of Europe and heckling, just like Muppets characters Statler and Waldorf, claims Der Spiegel. The magazine said the German Chancellor saw "a Europe in which the British are at best spectators in the gallery, like Statler and Waldorf, the two old men on The Muppet Show." Charming. 08.32 Portugal unveiled its 2013 budget yesterday, bringing further austerity measures demanded as conditions for its €78bn bail-out package. Here are some of the key facts and figures: Income tax will rise from 9.8pc to 11.8pc Opposition Socialists called the budget a "fiscal atomic bomb" and 2,000 protesters gathered outside parliament last night. Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar said the budget - one of the most harsh in Portugal's history - was necessary to meet the country's bail-out targets: We have no room for manoeuvre. Asking for more time would lead us to a dictatorship of debt and to failure. Topless protesters shout anti-austerity slogans outside the Portuguese parliament last night.