Stocks end rally, Italy sells bills as debt hits record

Stock markets fell marginally on Monday. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1, ending its longest rally since 2010, while the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.4 percent.

The euro rose against other major currencies though after Italy managed to sell 8 billion euros worth of 364-day Treasury bills on Monday at a yield of 2.767 percent, up from 2.697 percent at a sale in July.

The problem for Italy, though, is that its debt level is already very high. A report by the Bank of Italy on Monday showed that government debt rose 6.6 billion euros in June to a record 1.97 trillion euros.

With its economy having contracted again in the second quarter by 0.7 percent, Italy's debt burden could yet force it to request a financial bailout, following in the footsteps of the likes of Greece.

Incidentally, Greece's economy also shrank again in the second quarter. It reported on Monday that the economy contracted 6.2 percent on an annual basis after having declined 6.5 percent in the previous quarter.