MADRID | By Francisco López | The market has changed their perception about the ECB’s monetary policy and it’s now anticipating a possible reduction of interest rates in the eurozone before end of the year or early 2014. The first consequence has been the depreciation of the euro, which has gone from 1.38 dollars, a two-year-maximum, to 1.35. The European currency suddenly depreciated, yet it still overvalued against the dollar.
WASHINGTON | By Tom Ferguson, Paul Jorgensen and Jie Chen via The Next New Deal | Bush and Cheney may have invented them, but many firms and industries at the heart of the NSA scandal have strong ties to the Democrats. This is the Hidden Corporate Cash Behind America’s Out-of Control National Surveillance State.
LONDON | By Barclays analysts | Several data releases over the past few days confirm that the Spanish economy has left behind a very long recession. The data confirm our view of a very gradual recovery in economic activity starting in Q3 2013 (seeEuropean Economics Quarterly, October 2013, for details). The economy grew at +0.1% q/q in Q3 13 after nine consecutive quarters of negative prints.
MADRID | By J. Luis Martín via TRUMAN | In the winter of 2009, lawyer, investment banker, and advisor on capital markets to the Director of National Intelligence and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, James Rickards took part in a secret war game sponsored by the Pentagon at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). The game’s objective was to simulate and explore the potential outcomes and effects of a global financial war. Two years later, Rickards published what would become a national bestseller, Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis. TRUMAN spoke to him after he just finished writing its sequel, The Death of Money, The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System, due out in bookstores in April 2014.
THE CORNER TEAM | For the first time since 2009, when the country lost the top credit rating by S&P, Spain’s outlook has been upgraded. Fitch affirmed its ‘BBB’ investment-grade rating and gave it a “stable” prospect thanks to progress in reforms and improved export performance.
MEXICO CITY | By David Brunat | An explosive combination of fast-food sold in every corner of the country and soft drinks cheaper than water has made of Mexico the most obese country of all OECD country members, for the first time surpassing the United States (32.8% of Mexican population is severely overweight, against 31.8% in the US). Amidst a strong opposition from the industry, the Senate just passed a law to raise taxes to fast-food from 5 to 8%.
NEW YORK | The Corner Team | The U.S. has a 7.3% unemployment rate but its underemployment is estimated to be of at least 5%. “Underemployed” are those citizens employed part time, but want to work full time, or jobless. This adds to the Federal Reserve’s caution in deciding when to trim its monthly bond purchases. In the video (via The Next New Deal), Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow and Director of the Bernard L. Schwartz Rediscovering Government Initiative Jeff Madrick explains three steps the government could take to address the jobs emergency.
WASHINGTON | The Corner Team | Thanks to the implemented reforms between June 2012 and June 2013, Spain has become more business-friendly, according to a report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank. Among others, the country eliminated the requirement to obtain a municipal license before starting operations.
BERLIN | By Andreas Rinke at Cicero via Presseurop | Beyond the outrage, the American spying scandal should serve as a wake-up call to the Europeans. Just like the first Soviet satellite pushed the Americans to go into space, these revelations should motivate the Europeans to catch up in information technology.
MADRID | By Francisco López | In the current context of scarce credit activity and low interest rates, a substantial part of banks’ financial income originates in the fixed income portfolio. The banking sector’s balances of fixed-income come to €540 billion, which represent 17% of the total balance (around half of them being public debt).