Three months ago Joachim Fels, PIMCO Global Strategic Advisor suggested that the U.S. administration had gained the upper hand in the cold currency war it had been waging ever since it took office in early 2017, but recent developments suggest that it was premature to declare a U.S. victory.
Shigoli Shitero | In March, African leaders descended upon Kigali, Rwanda, the Land of a Thousand Hills’ capital, to ink an agreement that is meant to smoothen the rough terrain of intra-African trade. Nearly 50 years after independence movements swept across Africa, the continent is still struggling to find its footing.
Weaker balance sheets are not very attractive…From time time, we check out whether the “junk,” as defined by a non-investment grade credit rating, is a good investment. At the moment, it doesn’t seem to be.
Stock repurchases by corporates have by far been the most dominant source of demand for American equites in the current bull market. According to figures of AXA IM, equity buybacks since the global financial crisis, for S&P 500 companies, have totalled more than US$3.5tn, continuing a phenomenon that began around three decades ago.
Enrique Fanjul (Real Instituto Elcano) | There has been a lot written lately about the role of the foreign sector as the driver of the Spanish economy’s recovery. There have also been some very interesting academic papers published, which provide us with more details of the new configuration of Spanish exports. The exports map is changing, with non-tourism services an increasingly more important segment.
Cellnex Telecom has presented its results for the first quarter of 2018. Revenues amounted to € 217 million (+15%) and EBITDA was € 101 million (+20%). The comparable net result closed at € 11 million, in line with the close of the same period in 2017, thereby taking into account the effect of the higher amortisations (+30% vs. 1Q 2017) and financial costs (+51% vs. 1Q 2017) associated with the growth of the group and the consequent expansion of its geographical footprint.
Telefonica posted a 7.4% rise in net profit in the first quarter of 2018 to 837 million euros from a year earlier. The figure beat FactSet’s analysts consensus for net profit of 800 million euros. But revenues fell 7.2% to 12.19 billion euros, as currency pressures offset improvements in the group’s home market.
Jens Bastian via Macropolis | Like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck, EU member states and candidate countries aspiring to join the club in Brussels are watching with growing trepidation the escalating trade conflict between the United States and China.
The European Parliament on Wednesday backed eurobonds as a medium-term solution for stabilising the Eurozone. But the decision did not go down well with the Spanish government which has sent its own proposal to Brusssels, stating that eurobonds are not “strictly necessary” to “guarantee fiscal support for banking union” and therefore “are not the priority.”