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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.
Draghi 2015 ironicTC

In Europe 22nd January 2015

QE European style: €60bn monthly bond-buying until Sept 2016

MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | Amid huge market expectation, ECB’s president Mario Draghi unveiled THE operation aiming to spur growth in the eurozone: the European QE will consist of €1.1tn sovereign bonds purchases, or €60bn a month until September 2016, beginning in March. A crucial move in exchange for low risk sharing (only 20% of bonds purchased by ECB, 80% by national central banks; and Greek bonds are expected to remain out). The euro touched an intraday low of  1.1451 dollars.

QE wordcloud

In Europe 22nd January 2015

“NCB risk bearing should be traded-off against a big QE”

MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | Hours before ECB’s president Mario Draghi unveils its big easing program, we spoke to think tank Bruegel central banks’ expert Silvia Merler about an eventual national risk bearing. It could be a way to make QE more acceptable by Germany, she believes, although “it should be traded-off against a significant size” (meaning more than the €50bn purchases per month some market watchers are talking about).

eurozone inflation

In Europe 22nd January 2015

ECB’s time for truth

MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | It’s been the talk of the town for months, driving up demand for government bonds in the eurozone, pushing yields to record lows and heating the debate among market makers. And yet nobody knows the scope of the European Central Bank’s next move. The much-awaited quantitative easing (QE) program is expected to be officially announced after 14.30CET today and include controversial sovereign bond purchases of €50-70billion euros per month until the end of 2016. Is the ECB late? Will the ECB manage to spur growth in the eurozone with that amount? 

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World economy 20th January 2015

The Federal Reserve was all set for mid-2015. Is that still true?

SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes via Historinhas | On December 2 2014, Stanley Fisher gave an interview (video) to Jon Hilsenrath of the WSJ. It was notable because Fischer had mostly been quiet, except for a couple of Lectures (not speeches) – here, here – given in international forums.  Six or seven weeks later, is that interview still pertinent? At that point oil prices stood at close to USD 70 and now they stand below 50. Mostly as a reflection of low global AD (here).The global scenario is changing quickly, and not for the better. So maybe Fischer is not so sure anymore. [Image:WSJ]

 

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Interviews 5th January 2015

“The ECB can implement quantitative easing in a much more aggressive way”

MADRID | January 5, 2015 | By Ana Fuentes | Dissensions at the ECB’s the Governing Council are well-known, and still have a long way to go. While some counselors require a truly expansive monetary policy which helps curbing the deflationary expectations, others deny these latter and therefore refuse to go further and define balance sheet expansion targets. Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, who was Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank from June 2005 to November 2011, is among those who believe that the ECB can take much stronger action.

 

A man walks past a pre-election poster of the Democratic Alliance party at a bus station in Athens

In Europe 29th December 2014

“If Syriza wants to obtain a better deal from Greece’s lenders, it will have to offer something in return”

MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | The possibility that leftist party SYRIZA wins next Greece’s elections on January 25th is hitting the European markets since this may involve a new kind of arrangement with Brussels about the country’s bailout and the precautionary line. According to Greek journalist at Macropolis, Nick Malkoutzis, “if the party offers structural reforms that would clean up Greek politics, improve tax collection and make the public administration more efficient, the Eurozone might be prepared to listen to what SYRIZA has to say”.

Saito TN

World economy 26th December 2014

“People forget that QE is a Japanese innovation”

MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | In a blow to PM Shinzo Abe, the Japanese inflation rate fell to its lowest level in over a year in November (0.7% from a 0.9% rise the previous month, according to government data released Friday), complicating efforts of the central bank to end more than a decade of chronic price falls. Does this mean, as stimulus sceptics put it, that the Abenomics are doomed? Advisor to the new government and one of the 100 Most Influential People for Japan according to Nikkei Business, William H. Saito believes we have been quick to judge their strategy. As he explained to me, they have “many plan B’s left.”

 

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In Europe 16th December 2014

Greek elections: Syriza’s date with history

ATHENS | By Nick Malkoutzis via MacroPolis | Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras is following a well-trodden route by trying to force early elections over the presidential ballot. Several others before him have tried to exploit the loophole in the Greek constitution which means that snap polls have to be held if 180 MPs cannot be found to back a presidential candidate. The most recent opposition leader to follow this tactic was PASOK’s George Papandreou in 2009. 

dollar rollo TC

World economy 12th December 2014

The Fed’s motto: Mistakes should be repeated!

SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes via Historinhas | Fed officials have great difficulty in thinking outside the box, ceaselessly repeating themselves. If they stopped to think for a moment they would see what´s very different now from what presented itself ten years ago. And the significant difference is not in the rate of inflation or the rate of unemployment, but in the level trend and growth rate of nominal spending

Caja RegistradoraTC

Markets 11th December 2014

TLTRO 2: Poor results highlight ECB’s increasingly large to do list

MADRID | The Corner | As expected, the impact of the ECB’s second TLTRO, aimed at spurring credit to SMEs, was smaller than expected. Eurozone banks asked for €129.8 billion ($161.29 billion) in four-year loans, more than the nearly €83 billion provided in the previous offer in mid-September, but below the €150 billion expected by market watchers. Some believe this will increase pressure on Frankfurt to launch broadened QE on 22 January, the scheduled date for the next ECB meeting.