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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.
startups 1

Spanish economy 20th July 2021

Iberian Startups Created 6,000 New Jobs In 2020

Startups in Spain and Portugal created almost 6,000 jobs in 2020, despite Covid-19, according to the study ‘Analysis of a new generation of start-ups in Spain and Portugal’, promoted by CaixaBank, through DayOne, with the collaboration of IESE. One out of every three companies analyzed increased their sales in 2020 compared to the previous year, with an average increase in turnover of 22% without cutting staff or taking special measures to regulate employment.

Madrid Gran Via2

Spanish economy 19th July 2021

Spain’s Scrabble-Shaped Recovery: W, K, V… Or Delta?

CaixaBank Research | Over the coming months, the pandemic will continue to be the major determining factor for the outlook. The immunisation of age groups over 50, which represent 90% of all hospitalisations, is expected to be completed within the next few weeks. With the emergence of new and potentially more contagious strains – such as the Delta variant – rapid progress in the vaccination roll-out will be vital in alleviating pressure on the health system while achieving a sustained revival in economic activity.

Smartphone against illuminated financial district in the city with the concept of 5g communications technology 2 720x480

Spanish economy 18th July 2021

Spain: 5G Auction Begins

Telefónica, Orange and Vodafone will from Tuesday bid in the auction for frequencies in the 700 MHz band, essential for the take-off of 5G. The fourth operator, Más Móvil – which is taking over Euskaltel in a 2 billion euro deal – has finally dropped out of the auction. The tender is a year late, due to the pandemic, which led the government to postpone the event at the request of the telecoms themselves. The latter made almost twenty allegations and have obtained an extension of the award deadlines and a reduction in the price. It was initially 1.17 billion euros and has been reduced to 995 million, a 15% cut.

natural gas

World economy 18th July 2021

Natural Gas: Powering Up The Energy Transition

Citi GPS | Much of the focus on the Energy Transition has been on how quickly renewables could take over, but reducing emissions from hard-to-abate sectors and places complicates the outlook. In this context, is natural gas a transition fuel, a soon-to-be stranded asset, or is it an energy source that could be part of the Energy Transition? Our report identifies five key demand areas where the proposition for natural gas is strong.

inflation course

World economy 17th July 2021

Can An Inflatable Economy Survive?

Peter Isackson | When nearly all incremental wealth is tied up in assets that may come tumbling down at any moment, nobody is secure. After the crash, the rich will lament their losses and their inability to rebuild. Millions will lose their gig work and below-survival wages in real jobs with no hope for a rebound. And with COVID-19 still creating havoc and climate change more and more visibly aggravating its effects, the problem of inflation we should be most worried about is the verbal inflation of experts who believe their discourse is capable of shoring up a failing system.

Sydney Metro West

Spanish economy 16th July 2021

Ferrovial, Acciona Win A €1.24 Billion Contract For A Section Of The Sydney Metro Line

Ferrovial and Acciona have been awarded the central section of the Sydney Metro West line in New South Wales (Australia). The project is valued at A$1.96 billion (equivalent to approximately 1.24 billion euros).
It is one of the most important projects in the state. As part of the project, the Acciona Ferrovial joint venture will create 1,000 new jobs, in addition to providing 500 training positions for the local community.

Banco Santander

Spanish economy 16th July 2021

Banco Santander Buys Amherst Pierpont For 600 Million Dollars

Amherst Pierpont Securities, a US fixed income broker, was designated a primary dealer of U.S. Treasuries by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2019. And it is currently one of only three non-banks to hold that designation. Amherst Pierpont has approximately 230 employees serving more than 1,300 active institutional clients from its headquarters in New York and offices in Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, other US locations and Hong…

hybrid car

Spanish economy 16th July 2021

The Automotive Sector Becomes The Target Of The First Spanish Strategic Plan For Economic Recovery

This week, the recovery plan was presented in Parliament, to which, over the next three years, nearly €50,000 million will be allocated. Among the investments of the ten main projects presented, more than €13.2 billion will be earmarked for sustainable mobility and electric cars, making the automotive sector the target of this first strategic plan for economic recovery and transformation (PERTE). This plan will be aimed at encouraging the installation of recharging points (deploying at least 80,000 to 110,000 new recharging points) and the purchase of electric vehicles (reaching 250,000 electric vehicles by 2023 to achieve the target of 5 million electric vehicles by 2023).

Naturgy Australia

Spanish economy 15th July 2021

Naturgy Expands Alliance With Sonatrach; Shares Outperform IFM’s Takeover Bid Price

Naturgy (NTGY) has reached an historic agreement with the Algerian company to expand the capacity of the Medgaz pipeline that supplies natural gas to Spain. The agreement provides for a 2 bcm (2,000 million cubic metres) per year increase in the pipeline’s capacity, 25% more, to over 10 bcm/year from the fourth quarter of this year. Once the extension is operational, 25% of Spanish natural gas consumption will pass through…