World economy


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To Wall Street’s Favorite Media, Spain Looks Quite Sexy Again

NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | Remember when Spain’s sovereign debt was smashing to a euro-era record high? Just 18 months ago Wall Street market makers as well as their favorite media expressed their suspicious about non-performing loans, the Spanish banks’ health, and government reforms. Pundits even talked about a Spain leaving the euro after the “Grexit”. Goldman Sachs was sure that “the worst” was yet to come and claimed that the country “should ask for a “Spailout.” But things have changed and now it’s time for the ‘mea culpa’ and the “may be it wasn’t that bad.” Investors are showing interest in Spain and headlines talk about growth, exports boom and the country getting back on its feet bank’s bailout.


FED Higher inflation target

Higher inflation target: A communication issue

LONDON | By Michael Pond and Chirag Mirani at Barclays | Some at the Fed believe that a higher inflation target could be a good strategy, though one that is difficult to communicate. Instead, in our view, it has an implicit near-term tolerance for above-target inflation; forward breakevens should be higher as a result.






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Can JP Morgan Settlement Set a Precedent?

NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | JP Morgan, the U.S. biggest bank, will have to pay a historic penalty of $13 billion over faulty mortgage practices, according to the settlement with the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday. That’s the equivalent of Iceland’s annual GDP, and more than three times the amount BP had to pay for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. For some, it was about time that the administration started to take action against those who ignited the economic crisis. Others believe JP Morgan is just a scapegoat.



Bubbles regulation and Stagnation

Bubbles, Regulation, and Secular Stagnation

MADRID | By Paul Krugman at Luis Arroyo’s Ilusión Monetaria | Looking at current macroeconomic policy, the obvious question is, stupid or evil? And the obvious answer is, why do we have to choose? But it is, I think worthwhile – or at any rate soothing – to think about the longer-term future for monetary and fiscal policy.