The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, begins an official trip to Vietnam and China this week with a strong commercial focus, aiming to increase sales of Spanish companies in these countries amidst the tariff war initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump. The goal of the trip is to balance trade relations with both countries—currently, they sell much more to Spain than they buy—and it takes on special ignificance in…
US President Donald Trump’s trade siege of Venezuela, revoking permits to do business with the Venezuelan state holding company PDVSA, has ensnared US-based Global Oil Terminals, India’s Reliance Industries, Italy’s ENI, France’s Maurel & Prom… and Repsol, which has more than €500 million in equity risk in that country. This is evident from Repsol’s 2024 annual report. After systematically reducing its equity exposure in Venezuela for several years, in 2024,…
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has extended his threat of tariffs to Basque steel as part of his electoral promises, announcing an imposition of up to 25% surcharge on all steel, iron, or aluminum entering the United States. This measure directly affects the company located in the Basque Country, Tubos Reunidos, which is already analyzing how to overcome the impact. If implemented (according to the new president…
Banco Santander informed the market yesterday that, in application of the bank’s current shareholder remuneration policy, consisting of a total shareholder remuneration target of around 50% of the group’s ordinary profit, distributed approximately equally between cash dividend and share buybacks, the board of directors has approved to implement a share buyback program to which an amount equivalent to around 25% of Santander’s ordinary profit will be allocated in 1H2024, a…
Alicia García Herrero (Natixis) | China has long been a focal point for global companies, European ones included. However, a shift seems to be happening with foreign direct investment (FDI) into China, as it is now plummeting rather than booming. In fact, China’s inward FDI has turned to negative growth for the first time in 25 years. Several questions seem warranted when exploring this phenomenon. Firstly, the deceleration of FDI in…
Alicia García Herrero (Natixis) | China has become one of the most important luxury consumption markets for foreign brands, but economic headwinds may cloud the outlook. With rising purchasing power and appetite in luxury spending, Chinese consumers have become more relevant globally. This report addresses what to expect in China’s luxury segment amid structural economic deceleration and geopolitical tensions. Introducing Natixis China Luxury Consumption Index We aim to analyze the…
The PNV has won the elections in the Basque Country with 365,634 votes (35.2%) and 27 seats (four fewer than it had); the same 27 seats (six more than it had) won by EH Bildu, the heir of the ETA terrorists (who laid down their arms in 2011) and which obtained 32.5% of the votes. The Basque Parliament will therefore be the most sovereigntist in history, with 68% of the…
Benoit Anne (MFS Investment Management) | Last week, we witnessed some rather unusual activity among major central banks. Indeed, one central bank—the Swiss National Bank—delivered a rate cut, while another—the Bank of Japan—announced a rate hike. Sightings of unsynchronized monetary policy actions at the major central bank level are less frequent than sightings of UFOs in New Mexico. Not only that, but we are starting to get the sense of…
The official data shows that the final execution of the amount received by Spain is very low (18%), that the awarding of projects is decreasing (45% in 2021; only 39% in 2022 and barely 20% on 31 October 2023); and that the vast majority (88%) of the money for the projects (61 of those 100) goes to public institutions (Autonomous Regions, City Councils and public bodies such as Adif, for…
Alicia García Herrero (Natixis) | The importance of the much-expected meeting between President Biden and President Xi in San Francisco cannot be understated, no matter the likely shallowness of the outcomes.The fact that there have only been two face-to-face since Biden took over from President Trump says it all about the importance of this encounter as the pinnacle of a series of meetings to step up dialogue between the two…