Top Stories

Articles by The Corner

About the Author

The Corner
The Corner has a team of on-the-ground reporters in capital cities ranging from New York to Beijing. Their stories are edited by the teams at the Spanish magazine Consejeros (for members of companies’ boards of directors) and at the stock market news site Consenso Del Mercado (market consensus). They have worked in economics and communication for over 25 years.
No Picture

Markets 17th August 2012

Back to gold, for clearing purposes

LONDON | This tells investors something about the scarcity of cash and quality assets to support compensation activity outside the regulated stock markets: from Friday CME Clearing Europe, the London-based clearing house owned by CME Group, has extended the range of eligible collateral types to include gold bullion. It is supposed to make it easier for holders of financial derivative products to offload their portfolios, and so prospective buyers would be more willing to…

Grexit

Markets 17th August 2012

“Grexit would be good for the euro, but not for German exports”

By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | Fernando Luque is analyst and editor for Morningstar. In a conversation with The Corner, he said that Greece will not withdraw the euro because “that possibility is no good for anybody, neither for Greece, nor for Germany.” Luque explains that there are no shortcuts to solve the Greek crisis, but that will not necessarily damage other peripheral countries such as Italy or Spain. Question.-…

No Picture

Companies 17th August 2012

Basque firm CAF awarded new Australian light rail vehicles delivery contract

GUIPÚZCOA | Australia’s minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian announced CAF has been selected for the $20 million contract for the supply of new vehicles to run on the Inner West Light Rail Extension. The project is due to be completed in 2014. The new light rail vehicles will operate on the Inner West Extension and integrate with the rest of the light rail network. “The Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar…

No Picture

In Europe 16th August 2012

Rich, filthy rich and ultra rich in the UK

LONDON | Even Ledbury Research, a specialised market intelligence agency that on Thursday released fresh data on the wealthiest few of the British society, acknowledges how tough the task of gaining access to their detailed information is. Yet, the rich hold a vast share of consumer influence and, obviously, economic power in their countries, so it is worth making the effort. What the Wealth Size report brought is a tale…

lsdk

Spanish economy 16th August 2012

As housing prices keep on going down, the end of the crisis in Spain is nearer

By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | In Spain, the fall in the housing prices is intensifying and that is a reason to rejoice. Last July, the average housing price fell 11.2%, but the granting of mortgages went down by 21% in the first half of the year. It is obvious that the owners may not feel comfortable with these decreases, but the truth is that as housing prices keep on…

ksjd2

In Europe 16th August 2012

Emerging Europe: euro contagion, Hungary and economic slowdown

By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | With half of 2012 already gone, three issues continue to be fundamental in order to strike some sort of balance in the situation for emerging Europe: the intensity of the financial contagion entailed by the debt crisis, Hungary’s situation and the extent of the slowdown in activity. Starting with the first of these issues, the trend in risk premia, measured by the value…

No Picture

Companies 15th August 2012

Bish, bash, bosh: the latest from Bankia

MADRID | Bankia shares seem to have become a toy amid high volatility on the Madrid stock market index Ibex35. This week so far the entity suffered a -16.08 percent loss of price in two consecutive sessions, after the State fund for banking restructuring FROB announced that stockholders will be partially shouldering, too, the costs of the rescue of the bank with taxpayer money. Banco de Valencia stock fell by -23.8…

No Picture

Companies 15th August 2012

BAA blames fall in passenger numbers in July on the Olympics

LONDON | July brought fewer travellers to the five British airports of BAA, the operator owned by the Spanish company Ferrovial. BAA said 9.6 million passengers passed through its airports in July 2012, down -4.1% comparing to the same month in 2011. The drop in numbers at Heathrow was of -4.4% to 6.6 million passengers. The loss was more pronounced in the second half of the month. The consortium explained in a…

No Picture

In Europe 15th August 2012

There is no plot against the euro

By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | Here you are, Spain’s updated accrued passive account with Target2 or intra-system operations pending compensation. Its sheer volume and the scale by which it increases clearly expose that we are in for our troubles. How can the euro zone authorities postpone solutions until September? The scenario does not look good. The chart registers data from the Bank of Spain until June. The debt goes…

No Picture

In Europe 14th August 2012

How long until core euro countries hurt?

The seemingly dead weight of the peripheral economies continues to mark a divide within the common currency region. The overall picture, unavoidably, registers the cut. GDP fell by 0.2% in both the euro area and the EU during the second quarter of 2012, compared with the previous quarter. Also according to flash estimates published by Eurostat Tuesday, in the first quarter of 2012, growth rates were zero in both zones. Compared with…