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…
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…
By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | In this excellent analysis, Tim Duy forecasts a moderate but continued 2 percent GDP growth rate for the US unless global risks drag it down. But the debate over there seems to turn around what else could have been done to fill the gap the breaks open in 2008, as it clearly appears in the chart, between actual and potential real GDP. The dilemma,…
The crisis is not treating equally everyone within the manufacturing car sector. Take Kia Motors Corporation. The South-Korean giant recently announced that its global sales figures, including export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants, have jumped on the upward trend. In passenger cars, recreational vehicles and commercial vehicles for July 2012, the company recorded a total of 226,818 units sold. It represents a year-on-year increase of an enviable…
By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | Alberto Matellán is director of strategy and macroeconomics at Inverseguros SVB. In a conversation with The Corner, he said that even if Spain doesn’t formally request a bailout, “it will be necessary some kind of intervention.” However, he points out that the possible Spailout would be met via different instruments, and that there is a high probability that a bailout for Italy comes in…
BEIJING | Guan Jianzhong, chairman at Dagong Global Credit, defends the independence of his ratings agency against the US-biased most powerful financial grade houses. Which are the differences between Dagong and its Western rivals: Moody’s, Fitch and S&P? We are essentially different. In the case of these three agencies, they try to protect US interests. The standards they use are the result of their views and values accompanied by a…
By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | Víctor Rodríguez is an economist at CMC Markets Spain. In an interview for The Corner, he said that Mario Draghi’s role is not so decisive in the debt crisis, although we could see important measures being applied by the European Central Bank. Regarding a possible bailout for Spain, Rodríguez considers that “if the country asks openly for it, the most likely reaction will be…
MADRID | Unmistakably, the reflection that the Italian economic indicators are mirroring should look very familiar to Spanish analysts. The slowdown wave is reaching core Europe too, by the way, as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reported this week: the European economies, whether using the ill-established common currency or one on their own, have been found to relate to each other in a more interconnected manner than previously…
By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | The rise of prices below the government’s target of 4% has created further room for expansionary policies. Hence the government cut the official interest rate by 25 basis points, down to 6.31%, at the beginning of June, and reduced the cash reserve ratio by 50 basis points in mid-May. For the remainder of the year, we predict further reductions in the cash reserve…
LONDON | Amey, Ferrovial Services’ British subsidiary, was named today preferred bidder to take on a highways maintenance contract with Calderdale Council worth up to £120 million. Amey has been Calderdale’s highways maintenance and street lighting provider since May 2000, “and this announcement signals the start of new five year contract with Calderdale Council providing a wider range of services. The contract will begin in October 2012 for five years, with the option to extend…