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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.
Air Europa

Markets, Spanish economy, Spanish Small & Mid Caps 4th November 2020

Air Europa Becomes First Spanish Company To Be Rescued By The State Amid The Health Crisis

The airline had requested help a few months ago and today the Spanish cabinet has authorised its rescue, the first one involving a private company in Spain during the coronavirus crisis. The State will inject 475 million euros to avoid Air Europa’s bankruptcy via a specific fund created to save companies with solvency problems, particularly affected by Covid-19. This aid will mean a support of 240 million euros via a participative loan and another 235 million through an ordinary credit.

US votes

Relevant News Item 4th November 2020

All Up In The Air In The US: The “Blue Wave” Has Not Happened, There Is Still No Clear Winner

With the counting still to be completed (some states like Pennsylvania and Michigan will continue to count votes until the end of the week), the candidates are very tied (238 Biden vs 213 Trump) against Biden’s victory that had been discounting the markets. Breaking all the democratic rules, Donald Trump calls himself the winner and asks that the postal ballot count be stopped (about 5 million votes), since it is a “fraud to the American public” and “an embarrassment to our country”.

spain greenfield

Spanish economy 4th November 2020

Spain, The World’s Fourth Most Popular Destination For Greenfield Projects

According to the FDI Markets database (produced by the Financial Times Group), in 2020 Spain was the fourth largest European receiver of greenfield projects, ICEX Agency reported. During this period, a total of 313 foreign capital greenfield projects have been carried out in Spain. While this is 42 percent down on last year, the fall at global level has been higher still. This has enabled Spain to reach the fourth position, which is an improvement on previous years: in 2019, it was in fifth place, and in 2018, seventh.

Trade war can have collateral damage in Europe

European politics 3rd November 2020

Why Many Germans Hope Trump Will Lose

Tilman Pradt (Atlantic Sentinel) | Donald Trump bashing Germany is hardly surprising. It has been a constant of his presidency. The once-special partnership between Germany and the United States, which already lost some of its luster in the decades after the Cold War, sunk to a post-World War II low during his administration. Nor is Trump mistaken. Most Germans want to see him gone — with reason.

blue wave

Relevant News Item 3rd November 2020

US Elections: In The Short Term, The Best For The Market Is The Blue Wave

Joe Biden is the clear favourite to win the US elections, with in addition a fair chance of a “blue wave”. In the opinion of Gilles Möec, chief economist at AXA IM, given the need of another fiscal push, in the short term, it is probably the optimal outcome for the market especially if the results come quickly. Questions on the long-term US policy stance will come later.

 

fibre optic

Ibex, Markets, Spanish economy 3rd November 2020

Telefonica And Allianz Create A Partnership To Deploy Fibre In Germany Through An Open Wholesale Company

Telefónica and Allianz have reached an agreement for the creation of a joint venture to deploy Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) in Germany.Both companies will each hold 50% under a co-control governance model. It will be an independent open-access wholesale operator focused on deploying fibre in rural and semi-rural areas of Germany to tap the potential of Europe’s largest broadband market.

 

pensions spain

Spanish economy 2nd November 2020

Workplace Pension Schemes: An Option That Is Taking Hold

Javier Garcia-Arenas (CaixaBank Research ) | The pension reform currently being prepared in Spain is a hot and pressing issue. After all, the structural deficit of the Social Security system (around 18 billion euros) and the need to ensure the system’s long-term sustainability in the face of demographic ageing are inescapable challenges for our economy. In this context, the minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, has announced that he intends to boost workplace pension schemes (also known as company pension) in order to encourage long-term saving, as well as indicating that the British model could serve as a good example to follow.

edtech

In the World, World economy 1st November 2020

Education: Fast Forward To The Future; Accelerating Edtech Adoption In A Post- Covid-19 World

Thomas A. Singlehurst/ Nithin Pejaver, CFA/ Mark Li, CFA/ Brian Gong (Citi GPS) | COVID-19 has created one of the most significant disruptions to students in history, with 1.6 Bn learners in 190+ countries being affected by school closures. Education technology (edtech) currently makes up only 3% of the $6 Tr+ overall market primarily because of inertia on the part of educational institutions. We see the current crisis driving an acceleration in edtech growth with the market doubling over the next 5 years to $360 Bn.

city of london

European economy 31st October 2020

Why Sovereign Credit Downgrades No Longer Matter As Much As They Used To

Ghulam Sorwar via The Conversation | Moodys downgraded the UK from Aa3 to Aa2 on the rationale that its heavy reliance on face-face services would mean that economic growth would be worse than expected because of the coronavirus pandemic. The agency’s analysis would have made sense prior to the 2008 financial crisis. It does not make sense in today’s world, with historically low interest rates, long average bond durations and public debt still manageable.

Trump coronavirus 1

World economy 30th October 2020

45 Million And Counting

Compared to the spring we have higher economic activity today even with much higher coronavirus cases. However, we have currently reached a point where controlling the further acceleration of the virus means accepting new economic costs. Lockdowns are back and we don’t even have the nice weather to help us deal with being stuck at home. The current wave could peak in the next few weeks, but the economic costs will persist and that means it is important that there are new policy measures in the pipeline. The ECB is going further in December and the US should deliver on more fiscal support in 2021. However, the game changer will be a vaccine which will help reduce the health costs and boost economic growth. A bullish outlook for 2021 really relies on that happening.