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Articles by The Corner

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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.
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Interviews 2nd March 2012

“Austerity can ruin the euro zone,” says Unipapel’s Millán Álvarez-Miranda

By Fernando Barciela, in Madrid | Unipapel’s managing director Millán Álvarez-Miranda warns the European economy is deteriorating as a whole, from Dublin to Paris and Athens, not just in the periphery of the euro area. Are you concerned about the markets? Of course. You don’t want your company to be undervalued on the markets. In our case, we must also bear in mind that half of the shareholders are present at the council. The fact that the stock price…

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World economy 2nd March 2012

Schroders: Japan’s rebound due to energy savings and public spending

LONDON | After the earthquake hit, the longer-term worry for both the equity market and the economy was that earnings power of Japanese companies had been severely damaged. But Investment house Schroders released Friday a note saying the worse scenario has been averted. Shogo Maeda, Head of Japanese Equities, confirmed that “corporate earnings have shown, and are further expected to show, a significant comeback during 2011. Corporate Japan continues to advance as historically high levels…

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Markets 2nd March 2012

Barclays’ subsidiary to clean balance sheet in tune with Spanish reform

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | The British prime minister David Cameron may perform his isolationist act as theatrically as he likes, but facts are stubborn showing that the British banking sector very much prefers to take advantage of the European Central Bank help when available. Barclays, one of the British banking sector’s heavyweights, has confirmed that its order in the last ECB liquidity operation with a three years maturity…

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World economy 2nd March 2012

US GDP in 1Q12, seriously injured

By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | Wall Street has been weighed down by a worse than expected purchasing managers index of manufacturing sectors or manufacturing ISM (Dow Jones: +0,33%; S&P 500: +0,33%; Nasdaq: +0,39%), which has disappointed both in its final reading and in its composition. Furthermore, the weak data of personal earnings and expenses in American families cast doubts regarding 1Q12 consumption. In fact, experts at Barclays point out: “we…

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World economy 2nd March 2012

Bernanke 1, Draghi 0

By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | The US economy is on its way up to the growth heaven while others, like Europe, live under the knife. Broad money or M3 volumes have increased in the US by 10pc. In terms of what it is strictly required, the Federal Reserve is fulfilling its duties. The broad money supply includes factors of money supply and money and credit demand, which means that there is activity in all money and financial markets. The…

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World economy 2nd March 2012

The Irish referendum, as seen from Madrid: don’t be trouble, get in!

MADRID | While in Spain the formalities for the approval of the European Fiscal Treaty that was agreed last month by 25 countries of the EU are being carried out virtually unnoticed, Ireland announced February 29 that it will submit the matter to referendum. Despite this display of democracy, it is precisely just a display. Under no circumstances would Dublin’s ‘No’ paralyse the entry into force of the pact because it…

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Markets 1st March 2012

Italy and Spain gain easier access to credit markets

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | The hangover following the second LTRO round has brought no headaches, so far. Analysts at the Spanish bank Sabadell have described as ‘very positive’ the €530 billion demanded to the ECB last Wednesday, as well as the increase of the participating European financial entities to 800. “It can be said that attending these auctions is not a stigma anymore,” say the experts. Furthermore, they…

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Companies 1st March 2012

Ibercaja + Caja 3: first merger of Spanish cajas after De Guindo’s reform

By Tania Suárez | The board of directors of Ibercaja and Caja 3 have agreed to initiate the merger process of their banking business, in order to develop a new bank. Last February the Spanish minister of Economy Luis de Guindos announced the outline of the financial reform. It has shaken the system and the public opinion, but it is now starting to reap the fruits. As the economist Juan Pedro…

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Spanish economy 29th February 2012

Spain will “double efforts” to compensate deficit drift, minister De Guindos says

MADRID | The Spain’s minister of Economy and Competitiveness Luis de Guindos announced Wednesday that he will explain the euro group the country’s 2011 budgetary slippages “with transparency and and accuracy,” reports new agency EFE. De Guindos also will defend that this year’s Spain’s commitment to fiscal consolidation is ‘absolute’, in spite of the estimated 2011 ‘complex’ deficit drift of 8.5% (from previous 6%) and the EU’s economy negative growth…

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Markets 29th February 2012

ECB lends €529.532bn… and Citi resumed lending to European banks

By Tania Suárez.- The new unlimited liquidity action, a.k.a. Long-Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO), has placed €529.532 billions today, with the goal of enabling again the flow of credit to the private sector. Gradually, there are prospects of an improvement in European financial markets. On one hand, the interest rates banks charge one another to lend money have dropped significantly: the 3-month Euribor has fallen to just under 1% from about…