ECONOMY

WalMart DoTheMath

The United States: diminishing growth

By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | The US economy is leaving behind its vigorous start to the year and is on way to a weaker scenario than the consensus had expected at the end of April, after the publication of the gross domestic product (GDP) flash estimate for the first quarter. The main reason for this weaker tone lies in the loss of dynamism in the labour market’s recovery….


No Picture

The market gives approval to Inditex’s Spanish VAT defiance

MADRID | The Inditex Group announced this week that it would completely absorb the increase in VAT from 18% to 21% that the Spanish government will carry out as one of its austerity measures to sustain the State's levels of income. But Inditex said it would not increase the prices of its products. In fact, this counter-price policy will extend to all of the Inditex Group’s chains, from Zara, to Pull&Bear, Massimo…


No Picture

Weekend link fest

A curated selection of links we hope can enlighten us all; some come from our corner, some do from other corners of the net. And as always, our comment widgets are anxious to get your suggestions. The emerging markets won't avoid euro's trouble Blackberry is killing itself how to get her backget=”_blank”>Be lazy, it's good for your company Why Barclays should not be turned into a scapegoat 5 reasons China's…


ph japan meltdown

Japan’s recovery needs sustainability

By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | The upswing exceeded expectations with a first quarter GDP that grew by 1.0% quarter-on-quarter and 2.6% year-on-year. This momentarily places Japan at the head of advanced economies in terms of growth. However, the forecast for the whole of 2012 hardly reaches 2.5%, as the composition of the national accounts raises doubts regarding the sustainability of the upswing. Unusually, the growth of the first…


No Picture

Poland’s defiance in brief

By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | Poland is one of those countries whose contrast surely must give food for thought to the believers in the inflexible laws of the European common currency. Outside the sacred euro area, its economy grows, its real GDP!, while its unemployment rate evolution is flat at slightly under 2007 levels. But the euro authorities keep stuck in t eukanuba dog food reviews heir proud, honourable…


nbcxz

In China the mountains might not be that high anymore

BEIJING | The option that Chinese economy is in a more severe slowdown than the one officially acknowledged has always been in the international community's subconscious. Economists and experts have been aware of a well known, but not so evident, truth where the usually optimistic official data might not be completely reliable. The debate is open, making it difficult to identify the actual reach of the economic consequences born out…


lkjcd

The ephimeral Olympics’ effect

LONDON | How much the £16.5-billion pill administered by the London 2012 Olympics will help reinvigorate the British economy is shortly to become a matter of debate. The figure came Monday under the signature of Lloyds TSB, which released a research study that forecast increasing activity until 2017 across key sectors like construction and tourism. Just weeks before the celebrations, the City seems drawn to spark the discussion. Indeed, investment…


xcc

After stagnation, a change of scene for French economic policy?

By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | France's statistics institute confirmed the French economy's stagnation in the first quarter and the year-on-year rate of change stood at 0.3%. In April, the economic climate indicator worsened and, in May, most leading indicators showed this decline getting worse, affected by the economic uncertainty, particularly due to the euro area crisis. The economy is therefore likely to continue slowing down in the second…


No Picture

Spanish equipment manufacturers increased revenue by 1.5pc

By www.valenciaplaza.com | The Spanish industry of capital goods (machinery and equipment that integrates the production process) increased by 1% its turnover in 2011 to €39 billion. The sector has some 2,000 companies, the vast majority of which are small and medium-sized firms. According to the National Association of Manufacturers of Capital Goods (Sercobe) last year, SMEs increased their revenues in €404 million to €26.13 billion, with a growth rate of 1.5% compared to…


No Picture

Weekend link fest

A curated selection of links we hope can enlighten us all; some come from our corner, some do from other corners of the net. And as always, our comment widgets are anxious to get your suggestions. Eurocrats, get your financial bazookas right now Markets are fast, but democracies slow –solving the euro crisis How investors can thrive as the eur ipad manual o zone burns Angela Merkel is drawing the…