MADRID| By The Corner | Spain is to lead the EU economic recovery until 2018, according to Morgan Stanley. External sector, capital spending and internal demand would be the factors pushing the country’s growth. Regarding capex, Spanish businesses are the most inclined to rise their investment expenditure in manufacturing during year 2014 in order to boost production capacity.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | The ball is now on Janet Yellen’s court after BoE’s governor Mark Carney warned investors to get ready for interest rates’ hikes. What can we expect if the US Fed follows suit?
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | The evolution of the UK’s real estate market is one of the major risks assessed by the BoE in recent months. In fact, the demand has gained great traction since 2013, backed by better credit lending conditions, the increase of confidence and the oficial program Help to Buy.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | In a historic move, the ECB cut the benchmark rate to 0.15 percent from 0.25 percent, and reduced the deposit rate to minus 0.10 percent from zero, becoming the world’s first major central bank to use a negative rate and pushing entities to increase credit lending. Spanish Ibex35 reacted to the news with a 0,8% increase.
MADRID | By Francisco López | Markets are taking for granted that ECB’s chairman Mario Draghi is going to act tomorrow. What is not that clear is to which extent he will do it. The last inflation figures on the euro area -a greater fall than the expected in May, standing at 0.5% and thus worsening deflation risks- represent a convenient opportunity for those ECB’s members claiming immediate bold measures.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | The operator of all Spain’s stock markets and financial systems BME has a couple of good reasons to celebrate. The company’s trading volume increased by 49.8% on a y-o-y basis to €72.2 bn in May, as the so-called Tobin tax on foreign exchange transactions has recently been postponed by 2016. This tax could cut BME’s volume by near 10%.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | What can small countries’ firms do in the world biggest democracy, built on 28 nations more than regions? Some Spanish companies in India have been able to manage big four toll roads (Isolux), control 80% of its airspace safety (Indra), excel in the olive oil market (Borges), or even list in the Bombay’s stock exchange (CIE Automotive). After the historical victory of Narendra Modi their prospects are even better, considering that India’s middle-upper class ranges between 50 and 300 million people.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | The key for a Spanish sustainable economic recovery are the country’s SMEs. Considering they mean about 90% of the national corporate landscape, the IMF’s last report on Spain provides two main recipes for helping them survive: extending aids for insolvent companies, which would “preserve Spain’s strong payment culture,” and also increasing wages cuts.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | The rise of nationalist political parties in the new EU Parliament “could tighten the euro, but only transitorily”, according to analysts at Bankinter, but the reality is that “from a practical point of view everything will remain the same,” experts at Link Securities say.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | Financial integration that will result from the European banking union will definitely help to reduce systemic risks and simplify an industry that deeply questioned during the crisis. Strengthening capital standards, as established in the Basel III framework, as well rethinking the role of the once ‘too big to fail’ entities are some of the regulatory changes, Governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Linde, explained in Madrid on Thursday.