UBS | The focus in the Brexit debate is often on the UK’s relatively large current account deficit. This is understandable, as a period in which Foreign Direct Investment was harder for the UK to attract in a post-Brexit world would likely imply the current account would need to correct.
Nick Malkoutzis via Macropolis | After weeks of dancing around the issue, it seems that Greece and its lenders have started, even tangentially, to link the refugee crisis and the pending bailout review.
M&A transactions in Spain soared 185.56% in February to 5.305,23 billion euros from a year earlier, according to consultancy TTR’s monthly report. The real estate sector has been the most active so far this year, with a total of 61 operations, followed by the Internet and technology sectors, with 20 and 17 transactions respectively.
UBS | We conducted a survey to determine whether Eurozone corporates are starting to invest again, and how this would be funded – a crucial question not just for the business cycle, but also for individual sectors and stocks.
James Alexander via Historinhas | Despite all the pessimism the Euro Area nearly caught up with US NGDP growth in Q4. Now that Italy and Spain have finally reported their Nominal GDP figures Eurostat shows that 4Q15 NGDP growth for the Euro monetary region as a whole was almost as fast, year-on-year, as the US.
The CNMC said 2015 was the first year that the electricity system posted a surplus after 14 consecutive years of deficit. The full-year surplus was 550 million euros which the regulator has said should be earmarked for paying down debt, in line with the guidelines included in the last electricity sector reform.
Siemens has identified three key points which could delay or even thwart the deal it is negotiating with Spanish firm Gamesa. The most important is resolving the problem of eliminating competition in the industry, which a tie-up between the two companies would provoke. This issue could cause the transaction to be blocked.
BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research | Ahead of today’s ECB meeting, we think the focus will need to be on QE, which we expect to be extended until September 2017 and accelerated by € 10bn/month. We also expect the ECB to make QE more credible
The market consensus is that the ECB will cut its deposit rate at tomorrow’s monthly meeting. The question is by how much. Consensus points to 10 bps to -0.4%, while other more agressive bets point to -0.55%. Switzerland has applied a negative deposit rate since January 2015, but experience seems to show this option is counterproductive for the banking sector.
Larry Beck | For those of you who continue to believe that America is a great nation deserving of the respect and admiration that much of the rest of the world seems to have forgotten about, the 2016 presidential race to the sewer will provide a plethora of feel good moments.