KANSAS CITY | Via Truman Factor | Marx’s Das Kapital focused on depreciation. It was Marx who coined the term “primitive accumulation” meaning privatisation and fraud. Piketty’s analysis is completely different from Marx, despite the fact that his parents were Trotskyists.
KANSAS CITY | By Truman Factor| Karl Fitzgerald of Renegade Economists and Michael Hudson review French economist Thomas Piketty’s new book, Capital in the 21st Century, which is barnstorming the world at the moment. One of his important discoveries is the disparity in wealth is much greater than the disparity of income because of tax avoidance by the rich. They don’t earn an income.
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | Spain’s unemployment rate climbed to nearly 26 per cent in 1Q, official data showed Tuesday, despite the positive growth figures the government is proudly showing. Markets are weighing the effects of those numbers on the country’s sluggish recovery, the same day Spanish bank Santander announced an 8% profit increase in 1Q. Spain only accounts for 14% of the entity’s profits, while the UK is already 20%.
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | M&A is getting really hot: Pfizer and AstraZeneca are forging the largest all-time merger in the pharmaceutical sector for $101bn, an operation that is stirring up investors. Apple turned to the bond market to fund its capital repurchase program again (it did the same one year ago). A 17bn blockbuster corporate bond debt sale that could the 2nd largest in History.
LONDON | By Aroop Chatterjee at Barclays | Implied volatilities in a number of asset markets have been recently trading close to their lowest levels since 2007. This has happened despite prevailing uncertainties about the durability of US economic growth or the path of Fed policy.
MADRID | The Corner | Macro figures that Spanish government will send to European Commission next Wednesday will include an upward GDP’s revision of 1.2% and 1.8% for 2014 and 2015, respectively. Spanish Treasury issued €5.5bn of 3, 5 and 10 year-bonds beating expectations. Yields dropped to a record low in the three maturities. Fitch’s will review Spain’s BBB rating with stable outlook on Friday.
LONDON | By Tal Shapsa at Barclays | Our export performance analysis points to a positive outlook for the fragile five of the emerging countries. A simple model we developed – which attempts to gauge future changes in the current accounts based on the export performance indices – suggests that the recent improvement will likely be sustained, providing additional tailwind for EM trades and carry in particular.
MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | How much is enough? Mario Draghi announced that the ECB’s Governing Council is unanimously committed to “using both unconventional and conventional instruments to deal effectively with the risks of a too-prolonged period of low inflation.” His most explicit comments came as EZ inflation slowed to 0.5 percent last month, the weakest pace in more than four years, whereas the central bank’s target inflation is at 2%. Excess liquidity in the 18-nation currency bloc financial system has dropped to 92.9 billion euros ($128 billion), the lowest level since December 2011. When will Mr Draghi feel real risks?
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | Caixabank’s net profit dropped by 54.6% to €152M in the first quarter. Analysts highlight the positive impact of integrating Banco de Valencia and Banca Cívica. Spain’s third biggest bank by market value improved its margins and reduced its NPL rate for the first time since the crisis started.
ATHENS | By Macropolis | Greece’s 2013 general government (gg) deficit reached 23.11 billion euros (12.7 percent of GDP), while debt stood at 318.7 billion (175.1 percent of GDP), according to first notification released by the Eurostat on Wednesday.