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Markets 8th December 2014

“I don´t think amnesty for Russian offshore capital will be useful”

MADRID | By Ana Fuentes and Sean Duffy | Uncertainty surrounding the future impact of sanctions both at home and abroad has seen a mass exodus of capital from Russia this year. The Government has sought to address the issue by offering an amnesty to Russians with money stashed overseas. Over $100 billion has left the country in 2014 and Alexander Pechersky, a managing partner from ALT R&C, is sceptical about the impact this latest measure will have. “I don’t really believe in the efficiency of this amnesty. I think this is a measure for the media and to gain some headlines.” 

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Markets 5th December 2014

“The ECB is almost apologetic about the lack of growth and the weak inflation”

MADRID | The Corner | According to Patrice Gautry, chief economist at UBP, there is little doubt that monetary policy – due to be presented in detail at the beginning of next year – will be revised and reshuffled as follows: 1) bigger ECB spending; 2) more of a focus on private and public bond purchases rather than on LTROs and ABS and CoCo purchases.In short, broadened QE should kick in on 22 January, at the next ECB meeting.

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Markets 5th December 2014

Draghi in drag

SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes via Historinhas | The European Central Bank opened the door to a dramatic escalation in its campaign to stimulate the eurozone’s stagnant economy early next year, signaling a new chapter in the bank’s fight against excessively weak inflation in the heart of Europe. ECB President Mario Draghi said after the bank’s monthly meeting that officials discussed purchases of government bonds, known as quantitative easing or QE, but that they needed more time to gauge the effects of policies that they have already implemented while assessing how falling oil prices may affect the bank’s consumer-price outlook.

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Markets 4th December 2014

“No need for unanimity” for QE

MADRID | The Corner | The ECB avoided taking any new measures to fight stagnation in the eurozone, although its growth forecast is significantly lower than 3 months ago. As Mario Draghi announced on Thursday, the Frankfurt-based institution intends (he said, using that word instead of ‘expects’) to expand its balance sheet by $1Tr, yet it won’t act before 2015, as many were expecting. A sovereign QE, despite the Bundesbank’s opposition, is a closer possibility, but the Governing Council will wait until next year to assess the impact of the existing policy measures and of falling oil prices.

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Markets 4th December 2014

Eurozone faces an interest rates scenario highly dependent on ECB’s monetary policy

MADRID | The Corner | Risks for the Eurozone have significantly intensified in the last six months. According to experts at Afi, the reduction of the risk premium and more benign monetary conditions are not enough to boost the economic activity. The Euro depreciation, although stronger than the Dollar, was not as intense as that of other currencies, which suggests a moderate growth scenario for the export of the region. In such context, what is likely to happen with the interest rates in the next six months?

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Markets 4th December 2014

What if before the sovereign QE, the ECB launched a corporate bond purchase plan?

MADRID | The Corner | Even though the sovereign QE is present in the markets’ dynamics, it is likely that the ECB will first bet on a program of corporate debt purchase and then wait to see what happens. Experts at Morgan Stanley say that the likelihood of this plan is 30% and that it would have an impact on the households’ wealth as well as providing greater financial stability. However, the program would also have problems when it finishes, because equities don’t expire and the ECB wouldn’t be able to have those shares ad infinitum.

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Markets 3rd December 2014

ECB preview: Not yet

Guest Post by  Thomas Harjes and Fabio Fois (Barclays) | Despite the softer November inflation print and some likely downward revisions in the ECB’s inflation and growth outlook next week, we do not expect the ECB to announce further policy easing when the Governing Council meets on Thursday, 4 December. We believe the ECB is going to wait at least another month. 

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Markets 3rd December 2014

Price target of Spanish firms up by +47.3%

MADRID | The Corner | By J.A. Santos | The stock market value of the 60 Spanish firms that we analysed reached €615.973 billion at the close of November 2014. This represents a +6.7% increase with respect to 2013. According to the market consensus, the weighted average earnings per share is €0.85 (-27.9% vs 2013).