Juan Carlos Ureta (Renta 4) | Stock markets have continued their phase of rest and profit taking despite the triumphalism and new stimulus plans from Biden in his speech to Congress in the first 100 days. Also despite the spectacular results published by the five big technology companies, which have beaten forecasts. Tesla announced a 27-fold increase in profits over the same period in 2020, despite which the share price…
T.C. | The five big Spanish banks posted net profit of 7.825 billion euros in the first quarter of this year, compared with a loss of 1.053 billion in the first quarter of 2020, when they made provisions of 3.9 billion to deal with the coronavirus crisis. It should be noted, however, that without the effect of the Caixabank / Bankia merger, the Q1’21 profit would be considerably lower at…
At first glance, the “scar” on total employment looks set to be less deep than after the 2008 financial crisis. However, at the sectorial level, the shock may turn out to be deeper or longer lasting. One example is tourism, one of the sectors most affected by the pandemic and one of the most labour-intensive. These sectorial divergences may have consequences for the pace of recovery in European countries depending on their degree of exposure to tourism.
Nick Ottens (Atlantic Sentinel) | Will the SNP win an absolute majority? Will Labour’s Red Wall hold? How well will Labour do in Wales? Scotland’s will be the most closely watched election today, but voters across the UK go to the polls. In addition to the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, all sixty seats in the Welsh Assembly, all 25 seats in the London Assembly, thirteen mayoralties and thousands…
Fernando Alberca | Retail customers of hundreds of US banks will soon be able to buy, hold and sell bitcoins directly through their existing accounts at those banks, according to business news outlet CNBC. This will be made possible by a deal between cryptocurrency custody firm New Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) and financial technology giant Fidelity National Information Services (FIS). It will allow US banks to offer cryptocurrency trading and…
T.C. | Why has Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE been swept aside in the Madrid elections on May 4th? Because, very much in his usual style, he waited until the 5th to announce to all Spaniards the content of the Recovery Plan sent to Brussels the previous week, with tax hikes on all fronts. So Spain has a government in which everything is about electoral calculation, deceit and contradiction. Something that, at…
The construction sector aims to take in workers who are currently on temporary lay-offs and who work in the tourism or hotel and catering sectors in order for them to be trained in the new techniques that are already being used in construction. In contrast to the evolution of these two sectors, still heavily affected by the pandemic and with companies in difficulties that could lead these workers to permanent unemployment, the construction sector has already recovered all the employment lost since the outbreak of the health crisis and even surpassed it.
T.C. | Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the PP president of the Community of Madrid, swept to victory in the elections to the Madrid Assembly and will be able to govern alone. With her 65 deputies (the absolute majority is 69), she will only need the abstention of Vox (13 deputies), the party to her right, to form a government. With a historic turnout of 76%, the highest in the history of…
Pep Ruiz (BBVA Research) | The US economy’s stimulus plan, with a fiscal stimulus that can exceed 12 pp of US GDP, which could increase Spain’s GDP by 0.2 pp and 0.9 pp this year and next year respectively.
Ecoener has dropped more than 15% in its stock market debut, thus weakening the debut of the first of the flood of renewable companies that plan to make the leap to the market in 2021. The renewables group only saw a positive sign in its share price in the early stages of the day, when it rose 1.7% to six euros per share.