What a Spanish bail-out would mean for investors

Bail-outs just don't buy the sort of relief they used to. Ireland has accepted as much as £77bn to pay its bills and prop up its banking sector. Yet markets aren't convinced it's enough. Irish ten-year government bond yields topped 9% yesterday. That's the highest level they've reached so far in this growing crisis. More worryingly, other European countries with big borrowings also saw their sovereign bonds take a further pounding. That's bad news. The whole point of helping the Irish was to stop investors from panicking about the rest of the eurozone. As things stand, Europe probably has enough money left in the emergency pot to bail-out Portugal. But if the firebreak fails, the next economy in the market's sights is way too big to save: Spain…