Morning business round-up: Italy bond yields hit 7%

What made the business news in Asia and Europe this morning? Here's our daily business round-up:

Italy's bond yields continued to soar on Wednesday, with the yield on 10-year bonds rising well above 7% - a rate which many analysts deem to be unsustainable.

The rise comes a day after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he would resign once budget reforms are passed.

The yield was pushed up as a clearing house asked for a larger deposit to trade Italian bonds - to cover the increased risk of non-payment.

Investors increasingly fear that Italy could become the next victim of the debt crisis.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has warned that the global economy is at risk of being plunged into a .

Ms Lagarde said the ongoing debt crisis in Europe had resulted in an uncertain outlook for the global economy.

The IMF chief added that while efforts to solve the crisis were heading in the right direction, more needed to be done to restore confidence.

China's inflation rate fell for a third straight month in October, as the government continues to try to cool economic growth.

Consumer prices rose 5.5% in October compared with the same month a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

That is down from 6.1% in September, and a three-year high of 6.5% in July.

The government has identified inflation as one of the main threats to the country's economic stability.

Global bank HSBC has reported shrinking underlying profits and warned of a "very challenging" outlook.

Its headline profit before tax was actually up 66% to $5.2bn (£3.2bn) in the third quarter of the year, mainly thanks to a revaluation of its own debts, the value of which has fallen in volatile markets.

But underlying profits fell 36% because of weak business, as well as bad debts in the US.

Anglo-French electrical goods retailer Kesa has announced plans to sell off its troubled UK-based Comet stores to a private equity firm for just £2.

The buyer is a group of companies under the name "Hailey" advised by retailer turnaround specialists OpCapita.

Shares in Olympus have plunged yet again as uncertainty looms over the camera maker's future.

Shares fell 20% in Tokyo on Wednesday, after shedding 30% in the previous session.

On Tuesday, Olympus launched an inquiry after admitting it had hidden losses on its securities investments for decades.

The latest edition of Business Daily considers how you can get a job when unemployment is rising. It also reports from shanty towns in Spain where the unemployed gather.