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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.
credit suisse

Spanish economy 1st September 2020

Credit Suisse Will Move Its Investment Banking To Madrid After The Brexit

The Swiss bank applied for a license from the Bank of Spain and the European Central Bank in July to convert the securities broker dealer they own in Spain into a bank. “It is a process that will allow us to create a European hub to concentrate many of the investment banking activities,” said Wenceslao Bunge, Credit Suisse’s head for Spain and Portugal. The bank expects to obtain the license within a year and be fully operational by mid-2021.

Nadia proud spain

Spanish economy 1st September 2020

The New Term Starts In Spain: Renewed Growth Goals, Temporary Layoffs Extension And Preparation Of 2021 Budget

Nadia Calviño, Minister of Economic Affairs expects, “with all due caution and prudence,” third quarter GDP growth of 10%, in addition to an improvement in employment data. At the same time, Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez anticipated that the aid Spain will receive from the EU Recovery Fund (€140 Bn) will add 2 percentage points to the GDP in the long term.

spanish coast property

Spanish economy 1st September 2020

Foreign Demand For Housing, Key To Spain’s Sector’s Recovery

Caixabank Research | In recent years, purchases by foreigners have been fundamental in boosting Spain’s real estate sector, especially in large cities and tourist areas. In 2019, foreigners bought almost 63,000 homes in Spain, accounting for 12.5% of total purchases according to the College of Registrars. We can observe that Q1 sales to foreigners totalled 14,850, down by 6.4% year-on-year. The decline in property purchases by UK citizens (–14%) is particularly large.

Erdogan's referendum victory

European economy 31st August 2020

Turkey: GDP Slumped But Beat Market Expectations

Ali Batuhan Barlas / Adem Ileri / Berk Orkun Isa / Seda Guler Mert / Alvaro Ortiz (BBVA Research) | Turkish economy contracted by -9.9% in yearly terms in 2Q20 (-10.7% Bloomberg, -12.7% Reuters). The quarter-on-quarter contraction was higher at 11%. The growth rates in services and industry, sensitive to the Covid-19 shock, were the key factors behind.

dollar rally

In the World, World economy 31st August 2020

The Weak Dollar: Why It Won’t Be Replaced As Global Reserve Currency

Arturo Bris via The Conversation | Stock markets have been very strange this year. For international investors in general, currency risk – above all the weakening of the US dollar – has become the most important financial risk of the year. For a European investor, for example, US markets have yielded about 5% in US dollar terms) in the first eight months of 2020. Translated back into euros, however, that return is 0.5% because of the depreciation of the US dollar over the past two months. 

Spanish España.

Spanish economy 31st August 2020

Spain: More Uncertainty, More Saving

Not everything is falling in Spain. Uncertaint y has triggered a surge in savings and according to data from the Bank of Spain (BdE), Spanish household deposits, which rose by 0.08% in July compared to June, amount to € 892.8 billion, up by 7.13% when compared to the same month in 2019.

Pedro Sánchez falls short of majority but will likely prevail tuesday

Spanish economy 30th August 2020

COVID-19 Has Put Catalan Politics On Hold

Talks about transferring more power to the region, which Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez promised in return for the support of Catalonia’s Republican Left, were postponed when COVID-19 broke out in March and have yet to be rescheduled. So do snap regional elections Catalan president Quim Torra called for in January.

Japanese general

In the World, World economy 29th August 2020

“Same Wine, Different Bottle” – What Next For Japan?

Today’s official resignation of Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe ended weeks of speculation following a number of hospital visits over the past month (…) The two front runners for Prime Minister are probably Shigeru Ishiba (photo) and Fumio Kishida. While neither would be likely be politically revolutionary, Ishiba has been more critical of Abe in the past and was recently quoted saying: “We need to rethink everything about Japan… Stocks are not the whole economy. We need to change the system where all wealth accumulates with stockholders and people who manage companies.” Given his more populist stance it is unsurprising that he is popular, regularly topping public polls for the preferred next PM. Kishida by contrast has been moulded and promoted by Abe himself, and never will the cliché above be more true than if he is chosen to take over from his political mentor.

White House 1- Fed 0

In the World, World economy 28th August 2020

Fed Monetary Policy Review – No FAIT But What We Make

David Page, Head of Macro Research at AXA Investment Managers | Federal Reserve Chair Powell delivered the first shared address to a (virtual) Jackson Hole Monetary Conference. He delivered the conclusions of the Fed’s Monetary Policy Review, a process that was started in early 2019, and was due to be announced earlier this year, before the pandemic delayed the release. The Review maintained the broad pillars of Fed policy making: a dual mandate with employment and price stability goals, with price stability defined as 2% over the long term. However, it made three changes…

FEDBALANCE

In the World, World economy 26th August 2020

The Real Challenge Facing The Fed

Mobeen Tahir, Associate Director, Research, WisdomTree | The biggest challenge facing the Fed in the coming months (and years) is to sketch a roadmap for closing the floodgates of liquidity. At this point in time, it might seem like a ‘nice problem to have’. But given long and variable lags between policy implementation and impact on economy, these are issues the Fed needs to be thinking about now. While the Fed’s mandate is to promote maximum employment and ensure price stability, markets have become highly dependent on central bank accommodation as a propellant. As unemployment (currently 10.2% in the US) decreases and inflation (US Core Personal Consumption Expenditure Index inflation is currently 0.9%) rises closer to the Fed’s desired target level of 2%, the central bank will need to tighten policy.