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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.
aena

Ibex, Markets 3rd April 2020

Aena Signs New Loans (1.075 billion euros); Achieves A Cash Position That Allows It To Cover 1 Year Of Costs

AENA has signed new loans with various financial institutions for a total of 1.075Bn euros. The loans have a maturity of between 1 and 4 years and will boost the firm’s liquidity to 2.425Bn euros (from 1.350Bn previously). AENA also has the possibility of increasing it further with the Euro Commercial Paper (ECP) programme up to 900Mn euros, of which 495Mn are still available. Furthermore, the company expects to close additional loans in the coming weeks.

ECB premises

European economy 3rd April 2020

Eliminating Dividends In European Banks Could Generate 140 bp Of Average CET 1

Following the recommendations of European banking supervisors to suspend dividend payments for 2019 and 2020, Morgan Stanley analysts estimate that, in a hypothetical scenario, eliminating all dividend payments for ’19 and ’20 would generate on average 140 bp in CET1 (about EUR 100 Bn). Banks such as Caixabank, DBK, and Italy’s Banco Monte dei Paschi di Siena and Banco BPM would not be impacted due to their low dividend payouts.

OFICINA Empleo Spain

Spanish economy 2nd April 2020

Coronavirus Shatters Spain’s All-Time Unemployment Rise Record: 302,365 People Lost Their Jobs in March

In the face of the economic slowdown due to the restrictive measures in place to stop the spread of Covid-19, Spanish companies laid off or terminated contracts for over 302,365 workers in March, which is more than 50% higher than the negative milestone of January 2009 (at the start of the last economic crisis) when there were almost 199,000 unemployed.This brought the total number of unemployed to 3.548.312. Finally, Spain’s labour market have lost 833,979 members up to March 31.

eurozone quarantine

European economy 2nd April 2020

A Two-Month Quarantine Can Mean A Recession Of -3.6% In The Eurozone’s Annual GDP

Unigestion | The current shock that the investment world is facing has three unique features: it is exogenous, it will likely be temporary, and its effect on the real economy is extremely uncertain. According to our core scenario, 2020 should see the first global recession since the Great Financial Crisis. This scenario assumes that the quarantine will have a limited impact on financial services, insurance, utilities and healthcare services, and leaves 20% of usual energy consumption.

Kristalina IMF

World economy 1st April 2020

The IMF Believes The Macro Picture In Some Economies With Covid-19 Is Similar To The Stress Tests’ Worst Case Scenario

The IMF has recommended a number of measures to the banks’ supervisors to address the coronavirus health crisis. Firstly, it believes it is necessary to keep regulations unchanged and extend the time frame for compliance (Basel IV). It also recommends the use of capital buffers to facilitate operations, as well as providing incentives for lending by making risk management and associated costs (provisions) more flexible in the most affected sectors.

5g

Spanish economy 1st April 2020

Spanish Government Suspends Auction Of Spectrum For 5G Network Deployment

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has informed the European Commission that it has decided to postpone the date for the release of the 700 MHz band, a process known as the Second Digital Dividend. This was scheduled to be completed by end-June, along with the auction of that spectrum amongst operators for the deployment of 5G. The postponement is due to the exceptional situation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

China's one belt, one road initiative

World economy 1st April 2020

Asian Supply Chains Recover

Fidelity | Our analysts report that activity in Asia’s extensive network of factories, ports and logistics centres is accelerating as the Chinese economy leaves the blockade behind. Dockside cranes are once again squeaking in some of Asia’s largest ports as production at Chinese factories progressively speeds up, after several weeks of coronavirus-related disruptions.

Modern monetary theory

World economy 31st March 2020

Fast forward to MMT, please

Yves Bonzon (Julius Baer) | We are therefore moving much faster than expected towards a macroeconomic policy cocktail that combines monetary and fiscal policy (Modern Monetary Theory, MMT). In concrete terms, private agents (households and companies) who are currently losing precious income, must be able to continue to pay their bills in order to avoid a credit crunch against which monetary policy, even unconventional, can do nothing in isolation. Offering state guarantees for loans that relieve their immediate cash flow stress is a good solution in the very short term.