Wolfango Piccoli via Macropolis | As both the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are likely to win any upcoming elections, the approved constitutional changes will institutionalizs a populist one-man system equipped with vast additional powers. These will be usurped from other institutions without introducing the checks and balances required to safeguard against a further authoritarian turn.
So-called ‘soft’ data, such as strong sentiment indicators and survey levels for the US economy, have raised the debate whether the real economic indicators ahead – the so-called ‘hard’ data – will be able to fulfil the expectations created, or whether they will instead disappoint and lead to market unrest.
Particularly affected by the Brexit vote, due to its UK exposure, Sabadell’s share price has moved sideways and accumulated underperformance vis-à-vis the broader sector until the US election. As reported by Carax-Alphavalue, the latter’s outcome was “rapidly digested”, freeing the stock’s upside potential which has regained a large portion of the lost ground.
Families are investing money in the stock market. And a lot of it. In fact, households and non-profitable organisations providing services for Spanish households own 155.313 billion euros worth of shares, according to figures published by the Bank of Spain.
Benjamin Cole | The last time commercial property prices topped out was July of 2007. House prices appear to be rising still, though at a slower rate by various indices. On a per-square-foot basis, house prices in the U.S. have not budged since May of last year. That could be important, suggesting that houses now selling are larger, and the middle-class is dropping out of the market.
J.L.M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) | According to Eurostat, the business investment rate in the last quarter of 2016 grew to 23.5% from 22% in the previous quarter. We are talking about reaching pre-crisis levels.
By Alexander Coward|While it was a tragic day for those whimsical souls who see the lie in the notion of Britain being a modern great power, recognizing its status as a medium-sized country that used to have an empire, when Article 50 was triggered on March 29 it was not a sad day for Europe.
By Zhang Yiqing via Caixin | Against the backdrop of the world’s excess liquidity, the Belt and Road initiative offers infrastructure construction opportunities that provide investment returns while also generating economic value and social benefits.
Housing prices in the Eurozone rose 4.1% in the fourth quarter of 2016 from a year earlier, the highest interannual increase since the third quarter of 2007, according to Eurostat data. In Spain, the average rise in prices remained at 4.4%.
As the Easter week holiday kicks off, the positive outlook for Spain’s tourism and hotel sector augurs yet another record-beating season. During this week, the occupancy rate in some tourism areas in Andalucia will be almost 100%, while on the islands nearly 90% occupancy is predicted.