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Articles by The Corner

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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.
Ibex35 screen

Uncategorised 21st July 2020

Listed Spanish Companies Will No Longer Need To Present Quarterly Results, But Just Half-Yearly

Bankinter | Spain has approved the transposition of the 2017 European directive to promote the long-term involvement of shareholders in listed companies. This will be implemented through a bill that will amend the Law on Corporations (if approved by Congress). On of the main amendments is that the obligation to present financial information in Q1 and Q3 is eliminated. Therefore, listed companies will only be required to present half-yearly results, not quarterly ones.

Brussels Summit

European politics 20th July 2020

EU Leaders One Step Closer To Agreeing On Recovery Fund

Monex Europe | The euro found support in anonymous reports this morning that the frugal four countries are now satisfied with €390bn of the fund coming in the form of grants. The initial proposal included a total of €500bn to be allocated in grants, but the leaders failed to find a compromise on the overall size over the weekend. The talks will resume at 4pm CEST today.

The effects of the crisis on Spanin's businesses' productivity and competitiveness remain

Uncategorised 20th July 2020

Default Rates May Triple To 12% This Year, says IMF

The International Monetary Fund warns that the number of SMEs companies facing bankruptcy could triple if there is not enough aid from governments to support the economic recovery after Covid 19. Italy would be at the forefront of the defaults. The organisation’s director, Kristalina Georgieva, thinks eliminating prematurely the aid granted by the States could mean a greater cost in the long-term than the one countries are currently facing with the programmes for reactivating the economies.

The FAANG companies are moving Wall Street

European politics 20th July 2020

The Ruling In Favour Of Apple Undermines A Mechanism For Cleaning Up The EU’s Public Accounts

Intermoney | The European justice ruled last week in favour of Apple over Ireland’s advantageous tax treatment. In 2016, the Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager considered that Ireland’s tax treatment applied to Apple was irregular and distorting competition in the single market. Now, in an appealable judgment to the EU Court of Justice, Brussels is considered as not having been able to properly argue that reasoning.

Hong Kong neons

World economy 19th July 2020

Why Hong Kong Will Remain An International Financial Centre, Despite New Security Law

Horace Yeung and Flora Huang via The ConversationUK | Following the introduction of a new Chinese national security law, some are questioning the sustainability of Hong Kong’s position as an international financial centre. These doubts are augmented by China’s plans to transform Hainan, another island off the southern coast of the Chinese mainland, into a free-trade hub. This further calls into question the idea that Hong Kong is irreplaceable for some.

Smartphone against illuminated financial district in the city with the concept of 5g communications technology 2 720x480

European economy 18th July 2020

Across Europe, Imaginary 5G Threats Create Real-World Headaches

European News | All of a sudden, a raft of new sensational stories emerged: 5G is responsible for causing COVID-19; 5G is spreading the virus at lightning speeds; 5G is a front for a global ploy to inject us all with a “vaccine” designed to track our movements. Such speculation borders on the absurd, but its consequences are no laughing matter. Since January, there have been over 140 attacks on telecoms infrastructure across 10 European countries, with 87 incidents taking place in the UK alone.

money

World economy 17th July 2020

The US Dollar’s In The Spotlight

We enter the second half of the year with the cases of Covid-19 increasing uncontrollably on the American continent and in a very worrying way in the United States. The growing political uncertainty, accentuated by the trade conflict between US and China, puts the dollar in an unusual situation.Without falling into excessive pessimism, UBS AM Chief Strategist Evan Brown analyses in detail the current state of the currency and reveals his tactical positions given the current scenario.

Hydrogen EU

European politics 17th July 2020

EU Pushes For Renewable Hydrogen To Reach Climate Neutrality By 2050

On 8th July, the EU announced its hydrogen strategy as a priority within the Green Recovery Plan. Clean hydrogen will be a key tool for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in sectors that are highly dependent on fossil fuels. The European Commission aims to achieve 40GW of renewable hydrogen capacity by 2030, which is an ambitious target as it represents 2.7 times the estimated global capacity in that period. Even so, it is only 5% of the global capacity that would be needed to achieve the Paris agreement objectives. 

china WTO

World economy 16th July 2020

China’s Recovery: A TextBook V

Sophie Altermatt (Economist, Julius Baer) | The Chinese economy went through an impressive recovery in the second quarter and grew 3.2% compared with the same period a year ago, demonstrating a textbook V-shaped recovery. The return to growth was led by the production side and was driven by catching-up effects, pent-up demand and government support after the fallout in the first quarter due to the impact of the Covid-19 crisis.

Enagas headquarters

Ibex, Markets 16th July 2020

Enagás Receives EU Support For The Development Of 16 LNG And Hydrogen Vehicle Supply Points

The European Union has given Enagás the green light to develop 15 refueling stations for LNG vehicles and one for hydrogen. This move is within the framework of the ‘ECO-net’ project, coordinated by the Spanish energy company. The project has a global budget of approximately 13 million euros. These supply points – the hydrogen one will be the first in Spain at 700 bar pressure – will be distributed along the Spanish corridors of the Trans-European Transport Network.