Zhang Yu and Lin Jinbing via Caixin | China’s first “Belt and Road” asset-backed security (ABS) has won approval from the Shanghai Stock Exchange in a sign of support for China’s ambitious international investment and trade initiative.
US president Donald Trump is continuing along the path towards protectionism, positioning himself to take advantage of more beneficial trade conditions for the leading global economy.
Bankia Chairman, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, has fuelled M&A rumours after saying in an interview with the FT that the bank “fits perfectly with other large Spanish banks, specially BBVA.”
Establishing a minimum wage is a policy which is widely extended in the UE: 22 countries implement it. That said, it is not free from controversy. In general, setting a minimum wage aims to protect workers with fewer qualifications and/or work experience. But depending on the level at which it is set, it can have a negative effect on employment.
If and when interest rates keep edging up, the ongoing boom can be expected to come to a shrieking halt, running the severe risk of turning into a bust. From the investor’s viewpoint, gold can be considered a sound currency, as the “ultimate means of payment”.
Sunday’s Italian election have left behind a complex scenario and a lot of attention will be on the negotiations to form a government. In fact, Matteo Renzi has been the first domino to fall as he has decided to resign after his party’s negative results. But in Germany a political future is shaping up, after the Socialdemocrat Party gave the green light to the agreement with the conservatives of Christian Democrat leader Angela Merkel.
Spanish pensioners are on the brink of war. The group which has been the support for families during the 10 years of crisis, and has saved the country from social conflict, received a letter from the Labour Minister, Fátima Bañez, at the beginning of the year. Despite the fact CPI is now over 1.5%, she said she was maintaining the 0.25% increase in the pensions.
Athanasios Dimadis and Pierre Moscovici | President Trump’s election marked a new turn in the US-EU relations. EU commissioner for economic affairs, Pierre Moscovici, did not shrink from using harsh language in the past to respond to President Trump’s comments about potential EU collapse. During the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Moscovici suggested that the isolationist tendencies inherent in Trump’s “America First” approach could be countered by what he calls a “European way.”
“Markets may well be in for another Italian surprise”. Deutsche Bank’s analysts do not make this claim lightly. On their reading of the admittedly ambiguous data, they believe the anti-establishment Five-Star movement may only be a normal polling error away from being able to block the formation of any realistic, broadly centrist, pro-European government.
The Bank of England has indicated that the pace of interest rate increases could accelerate if the economy remains on its current track. You have to wonder what the eminent experts on the MPC drink in their tea to be so off course about the current track of the UK economy.