Portugal concluded its debt auction for a value of €3.6 Billion (€1.708B maturing in 2014 at a 5.449% interest rate + €1.892 maturing in 2020, at a 6.67% interest rate).
Given that the EU-IMF bail out was being planned for the eventuality where the rate was above 7% (according to the Portuguese Daily Publico), Portugal should not have to be bailed out for the time being.
However this saga is sure to continue as Italy and Spain go to the markets tomorrow to seek financing. Moreover, Portugal is due to return to the market at least by the beginning of February, to continue to finance itself given the total of €20 Billion of Portuguese debt financing needs for this year (page).
Probably due to these concerns, there are more and more reports(Bloomberg and WSJ) about upcoming changes to the EFSF in order to allow the member states to expand it in both size and scope. This becomes more of a growing need as a Spanish rescue becomes more and more of a possibility.
Place du Luxembourg 