BBVA and Stellantis have been added to the Euro Stoxx 50, replacing Amadeus and Engie. These changes will be effective at the opening of trading on 20 September. According to Bankinter analysts, “BBVA and Stellantis should rebound today, despite the fact that the session will probably be somewhat bearish, while Amadeus and Engie should fall back. And this same evolution could extend over several sessions. We estimate that some 27…
The fall in unemployment, -2.4%, is the largest ever for the month of August, marking the sixth month of falling unemployment in Spain. In the last 6 months, unemployment in Spain has fallen by 675,000 people and, at the end of August, stands at 3,333,915 people. Nevertheless, Social Security lost an average of 118,004 contributors in August compared to July, bringing the total number of employed people to 19,473,724 contributors,…
Trinh D. Nguyen (Natixis) | Governor Lee pulled the trigger and delivered the first interest rate hike in Asia to take the policy rate to 0.75% from 0.5%, while the rest of the region is still reeling from Covid-19 suppressions. The decision signifies South Korea’s strength in making a rapid recovery – from exports that grew 41%YoY in the first 20 days of August to accelerating retail sales to 13%YoY…
Nick Ottens (Atlantic Sentinel) | It’s too soon to tell you I told you so. The German election is still a month away. But it is starting to look like the ruling Christian Democrats made a mistake nominating Armin Laschet, the prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, for the chancellorship. Laschet would succeed Angela Merkel, who is not seeking a fifth term after sixteen years in power. I argued in December…
The consumer price index (CPI) in Spain rose by 0.4% in August to 3.3% year-on-year, the highest rate since October 2012, as a result of higher electricity prices according to the CPI leading indicator published on Monday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). This advanced indicator, if confirmed, would represent an increase of four tenths of a percentage point compared with the year-on-year rate recorded in July (2.9%) and would…
Mapfre Insurance – which serves customers in 13 US states, the largest auto and home insurer in Massachusetts and the 21st largest private personal auto insurer in the US – and AAA Washington – which offers its 1.2 million members exclusive benefits including roadside assistance, discounts, maps and personalised travel planning – have entered into an agreement to create a joint venture dedicated to the co-marketing of auto and home…
With one in four Spanish companies in insolvency – according to estimates from the Bank of Spain – the government is set to raise the minimum wage – standing at 950 euros – again, after increasing it by 31% since 2018. Employers are opposed, and point out that according to studies by the Bank of Spain, the sharp rise in 2019 must have led to the loss of 180,000 jobs.
“We don’t say the last word because we are right. We are right because we say the last word” (A US Supreme Court Justice). The UN Human Rights Committee has ruled that Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón did not have “access to a fair trial in the Franquismo case – where he was acquitted – and the Gürtel case,” the corruption case affecting the Partido Popular (PP), which, Garzón, then judge…
Non-performing loans granted by credit institutions to companies and individuals fell to 4.4% in June, compared with 4.55% in May and 4.67% a year earlier, according to provisional data from the Bank of Spain. This is its lowest level since April 2009, when the NPL ratio began its climb – which reached 13% in 2014 – as a result of the financial crisis. Total credit to the private sector increased…
Repsol has produced, at its Petronor Industrial Complex in Bilbao Spain, the first batch of aviation biojet fuel, a sustainable fuel obtained from waste. This important milestone in the production of fuels with a low carbon footprint represents an evolution in the decarbonisation of air transport fuels, a segment where electrification is not viable at the moment. The batch consists of 5,300 tonnes of sustainable fuel, the use of which…