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Articles by Ana Fuentes

About the Author

Ana Fuentes
Columnist for El País and a contributor to SER (Sociedad Española de Radiodifusión), was the first editor-in-chief of The Corner. Currently based in Madrid, she has been a correspondent in New York, Beijing and Paris for several international media outlets such as Prisa Radio, Radio Netherlands or CNN en español. Ana holds a degree in Journalism from the Complutense University in Madrid and the Sorbonne University in Paris, and a Master's in Journalism from Spanish newspaper El País.
No Picture

Companies, World economy 2nd December 2013

Is Amazon’s Drone Plan Solid?

NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos has been getting free advertising for media all around the world since he unveiled his last idea: getting automated devices to deliver packages to their customers. The plan, which won’t materialize before 4-5 years, still needs a lot of work. It will open the door to a different use of the highly controversial drones, currently used by the U.S. army for selected killings in the Middle East, among others. Critics insist the online giant may just be putting on a great farce. In the video above, the fears of the Taiwanese animation company TomoNews, which has been critiziced for the use of clichés, too.

 

thanksgiving

World economy 2nd December 2013

Despite Thanksgiving Deals, Americans More Afraid to Spend

NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | Despite the rain of deals, sales on the Thanksgiving weekend went down in the U.S. for the first time in seven years, according to the National Retail Association. More people went shopping, but they spent less money. Some shops have used promotions to attract reluctant consumers to spend more, although that dangerously squeezed their margins. So here’s a different, more nuanced picture of the U.S. economic recovery: gasoline prices are down, stocks and home values are rising, but consumers still feel under pressure from things like unemployment.

 

 

black friday

World economy 28th November 2013

Black Friday: Engineered Illusions of Unbeatable Deals

NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | Black Friday is not about retailers getting rid of their goods stock nor the savviest customers obtaining the best bargains. This buying frenzy that has spread from the U.S. to many other countries is more of a retail theater in which buyers ‘feel’ they are paying a low price and brands design their products with the discount built in. They don’t make a river of money. Still, this is the busiest shopping day of the year. If you need to run errands, buckle up.

No Picture

World economy 27th November 2013

U.S. Labor Market: “Workforce Changes Pose Amazing Opportunities”

NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | The U.S. labor market picture is firming -the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment aid unexpectedly fell last week-, although underemployment is still about 15%. We talk with Carl Camden, President and CEO of staffing company Kelly Services about how changes in the workforce and the economic crisis mean an opportunity for his sector.

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World economy 22nd November 2013

Marking His Assassination, Americans Still Fascinated by Kennedy

NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | Those six seconds that ended the life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy that November 22, 1963, still resonate fifty years later. The death of the telegenic U.S. President, broadcast live on television, marked a tragic decade including the political assassination of his own brother Bob, the murder of black activist Martin Luther King and the end of Henry Kissinger’s career. Since then, baby boomers have embraced sort of a JKF mania, idolizing Camelot, while their younger peers seem to be more fascinated about conspiracy theories surrounding his death.

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World economy 21st November 2013

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.

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World economy 19th November 2013

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.

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World economy 14th November 2013

Yellen On Tapering: Not Quite There Yet

NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | Thursday was Janet Yellen’s big day. In front of the Senate Banking Committee she ran through her prepared speech (released by the Fed on Wednesday) and acknowledged “the risks” of injecting QE steroids to the U.S. economy for too long. However, she argued,  inflation is still too low and unemployment rate, too high. “The benefits exceed the costs” of the Fed’s current policies, she said. Will we see any tapering soon? Certainly, but not yet.

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In Europe 1st November 2013

EU Growth: If Europe is the ‘avant garde’, we’re doomed!

SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes | A depressing quote: “A deeper, more worrying explanation is that Europe does not have a strong desire for growth. In fact, some have become convinced that, given the environmental consequences, economic growth does more harm than good and that the crisis should be regarded as an opportunity to shift to a more frugal economy.The growth agenda, according to this view, is a Trojan horse for ecological neglect – for example, through more business-friendly environmental regulation or shale-gas exploration.” (By French government’s Commissioner General for Policy Planning

debt

World economy 31st October 2013

The U.S. debt drama – soap opera or Lehman quality?

HAMBURG | By Dr. Beate Reszat| Shortly after the US default had been averted on October 16, the S&P 500 closed at an all-time peak of 1,744.50. Alan Wheatley (Reuters) commented enthusiastically: “If Wall Street’s record high is a signpost, the U.S. economy has every chance of pulling further ahead of a stuttering Europe despite new battles to come in Washington over the government’s budget and debt ceiling.” Does this mean that all the worries of the past weeks about a “Lehman moment” were nothing but hot air? Is the debacle that we observed nothing more than an episode in an endless soap opera that long ceased to impress markets?