Pablo Fernández (IESE) | The average return of mutual funds in Spain over the last 15 years (1.91%) was lower than the investment in 15-year Spanish government bonds (4%). The average return of the Ibex 35 index was 1.35%, that of the EuroStoxx 50 4.2% and that of the S&P 500 was 10.7%. 64 funds out of 562 Spanish funds with a 15-year history outperformed 15-year government bonds, 314 outperformed…
Steffen Böhm (The Conversation) | Carbon trading was supposed to encourage companies to reduce their emissions. Yet for many years, the carbon price was trading well below €20 (£17) per tonne on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), which is by far the most established market for trading carbon in the world. Most agreed that this did not send any financial signals to carbon-intensive industries to invest in green technologies….
A.J.A. | An Argentine friend of mine once asked me why I thought his country was not coming back from the precipice. “To put it simply, Alfredo, if a country’s greatest pride is Maradona’s “hand of God” against England…. It’s fucked.” He nodded, silently. There was little to discuss. Yesterday Spain had its own “hand of God”, one of those images for the gallery destined to mark an era. To…
Cement consumption in Spain grew by 11% in 2021, to 14.9 million tons, which is the highest figure in the last ten years. The sector expects this trend to continue in 2022, when it expects another additional 5% increase, according to data from the sector’s employers’ association, Oficemen. The figure, however, is 27% below that of 2011, when it was still in full decline due to the bursting of the…
Annalisa Piazza (MFS IM) | Despite no changes in the policy stance, the tone of the press conference was clearly more hawkish than anticipated. Lagarde noted that risks around inflation are skewed to the upside, especially in the short-term and the March projections on inflation will set the stage for future policy moves. Recent inflation developments are a reason of concern across the Governing Council as second round effects from…
About 1.4 million people in Spain are at serious risk of financial exclusion due to the inability to access banking services, according to a study by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) published Wednesday. The absence of bank offices and the lack of capabilities and digital skills to operate in ATMs or online are the main factors converging amongst those over 65 years old and residents in municipalities with…
BBVA Group posted a recurring profit of €5.07 billion in 2021, the highest in the past ten years, thanks to the positive evolution of revenues and lower loan-loss provisions. Including non-recurring impacts, the net attributable profit rose to €4.65 billion, 3.6 times higher than the €1.31 billion registered in 2020. In terms of growth it acquired a record of almost nine million new customers. The net tangible book value per…
Nick Ottens (Atlantic Sentinel) | António Costa no longer needs them for a majority. Portugal’s far left put purity before power and lost power. Until 2015, neither the Communists nor Left Bloc had ever been in government. That year, the Socialists fell short of a majority and António Costa made a deal with the smaller parties. In return for policies like free textbooks in schools and a higher minimum wage,…
Supply problems in German retail have eased considerably. In January, 57.1 percent of retailers complained that they will not receive all the goods they ordered. In December, the figure was 81.6 percent. This is the finding of an ifo Institute survey. “With the end of the Christmas season, the pressure has abated somewhat,” says Klaus Wohlrabe, Head of Surveys at ifo. “Nevertheless, many retailers can’t fulfill every customer request because…
Banco Santander achieved an attributable profit of €8,124 million in 2021, which compares to an attributable loss of €8,771 billion in 2020, when the bank made a non-cash adjustment to the valuation of goodwill and deferred tax assets (DTAs). The 2021 attributable profit is 25% higher in current euros than in 2019, before covid. Excluding net charges of €530 million for restructuring costs already announced in Q1 2021, underlying profit…