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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.
Puerta del Sol Square, Madrid, Spain

Spanish economy 8th September 2020

Spain’s Full Recovery Will Come In 2023

Intermoney | There are important reasons for maintaining a prudent attitude with regard to the Spanish economy, situating its full recovery in the year 2023. This would mean that we would lose more than a decade of the fledgling 21st century. On the other hand, there are also reasons to hope the recovery will eventually take shape and not be too far off. These include the encouraging development of the COVID-19 vaccines, the decisive response from the ECB and the EU, and a lesser impact of the crisis than feared on large European partners and customers.

Russian oil 777x400 1

In the World, Markets, World economy 7th September 2020

Best Month For Commodities In Over 4 Years

In August 2020, commodities had their best monthly performance since April 2016 and second-best monthly performance in the past decade (based on the Bloomberg Commodity Total Return Index). Each major segment of commodities contributed positively to the strong performance, led by Energy (+11.2%). Natural gas was the best performer in that segment, with a 47.6% gain.

CO2 777x400 1

In the World, World economy 7th September 2020

Net Zero – Idle Promises?

Eva Cairns (Aberdeen Standard Investments) | Growing numbers of countries, cities and companies have pledged to become net zero by 2050 to meet the goals of the Paris agreement. Estimates suggest, collectively, these net-zero pledges represent nearly 25% of world emissions and 50% of global output.

ECB Eurosystem

European economy 7th September 2020

After Jackson Hole, Comes The Week Of The ECB

On Thursday September 10, the ECB will meet and present its updated macroeconomic table, which will give us a better idea of its expectations regarding the pace of economic recovery (the August PMIs showed signs of weakness after the strong rebound from the April lows). The central bank will also update its view on current and future inflation levels with data once again showing very contained prices and in a context where the Fed is willing to tolerate inflation above 2% to obtain this figure as an average.

european union flag

Spanish economy 7th September 2020

Spain Expects To Receive The First Tranche Of The SURE Fund Before 2021

Banca March | Pedro Sanchez’s government hopes that the European Council will approve the Commission’s proposal on the SURE fund this September, in order to access the first tranche of financing this year. Spain’s request for financing in the first tranche is valued at 21.325 billion euros and is already approved by the European Executive. This will be used to cover the expenses associated with employment until September 30th.

Veolia

Markets 5th September 2020

Veolia Moves In For Suez : Win/Win

Veolia’s proposal for a timely and transformative combination with Suez could lay the foundation for accelerated growth. Analysts at BoA Global Research think stakeholder interests are aligned and that a mutually attractive deal scenario is now more likely than not. A growing ESG thematic tailwind adds to the appeal and we upgrade Veolia to Buy.

Japan argentina

In the World, World economy 4th September 2020

Japan And Argentina, Economies Destined To live “Groundhog Day”

Abe’s resignation is not good news as it comes at a critical economic, political and social time. The so-called Abenomics failed to address old structural problems and inflation has continued to be a headache, while wages have not risen as strongly as expected. Along with Japan, there are other economies such as Argentina, where past mistakes have been repeated. Current week the country successfully closed the restructuring of its debt in dollars with private creditors, but still have to recover its financial equilibrium.

Bankia

Ibex, Markets, Spanish economy 4th September 2020

Bankia And Caixabank Will Create The Largest Bank In Spain, Streets Ahead Of BBVA And Santander

Bankia and Caixabank have communicated that they are at a preliminary talks stage for a possible merger that would be carried out through an exchange of shares. For the time being, no agreement has been reached. The merger would create a lender with total assets of €664 Bn (according to data from Q2’20). So it would be the leading Spanish bank by volume of assets. It would combine a network of offices (including those of CaixaBank’s Portuguese subsidiary) with 6,700 branches and staff of over 51,000.

european banks2

European economy 4th September 2020

The ECB Points The Way Towards Banking Mergers: Profitability To Fall Below 2% This Year vs 12% Demanded By Investors

The European banking sector continues to lose importance as reflected by the fact that both Societe Generale and BBVA will no longer form part of the Euro Stoxx50. Whatsmore, the ECB’s vice-president, Luis de Guindos, has warned of the need for the sector to continue with the merger process. According to de Guindos, this crisis has aggravated problems that already existed before Covid-19. These include high structural costs (commercial networks and staff), high leverage and low profitability.