Business News & Financial News

In Spain 9th February 2026

Spanish industrial production closes 2025 with average increase of 1.3%, marking two consecutive years of growth

CdM | Industrial production rose by an average of 1.3% in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to data from the General Industrial Production Index (IPI) published by the National Statistics Institute (INE). This marks two consecutive years of growth. It also represents the largest increase since 2022. By sector, those with the highest average increase were the manufacture of other transport equipment (5.8%), extractive industries (4.9%) and electricity…

In Europe 5th February 2026

Factory orders in Germany see two consecutive increases: up 13.0% year-on-year in December against 10.6% previously

Bankinter | Factory orders in Germany surprise upwards for the second consecutive month in December: 13.0% year-on-year against an expected 1.2% and a previous 10.6% (revised from 10.5%). In month-on-month terms, 7.8% against a drop of 2.2% and 5.7% (revised from 5.6%). The improvement is again explained by growth in orders for metallurgical products (30.2% month-on-month against 25.3% previously) and capital goods (11.5%). Capital goods were up 10.5% against 7.9%….

In the World 9th February 2026

Japan’s Takaichi landslide victory puts us back positive for stocks and negative for Japanese bonds

Alicia Gª Herrero (Natixis) | At the Lower House election on February 8th, Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won a historical victory with 316 seats, which brings her well above the absolute majority. With the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) gaining 36 seats, the LDP-led ruling coalition obtained 75% of total seats at the Lower House. These results should bring higher political stability, as the LDP was in coalition before the…

“We need to approach negotiations with the U.S. on terms that are completely different from those currently being proposed”

Says Antonio Bonet, president of the Club of Spanish Exporters and Investors. He points out that “Europe has a single tariff applied by all member states, but the U.S. applies a tariff to each country, meaning it can decide that the tariff applied to Spanish black olives is higher than that for Italian olives, as it did at one point. So there is a part of the negotiation between Europe…

“Fifteen years ago, the European economy was larger than that of the U.S. Today, the U.S. economy is one and a half times that of Europe”

“It is a shame that we are able to mobilize economic resources for large-scale projects abroad, but not in our Spanish market”

In an interview with Consejeros magazine, Sacyr’s coordinating advisor, Elena Jiménez de Andrade, explains that now “We have great capacity to win projects, a capacity that until now contrasted with a series of financial limitations and balance sheet size. However, in this strategic cycle, we are going to eliminate those barriers. That is why we have set an ambitious goal for 2033: to triple the value of our assets. We…

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