Alicia García-Herrero*| Without an expectation of a larger market for European exports in the absence of additional opening up by Chinese authorities, European exporters should not enjoy the ongoing China-US negotiations.
By Yang Ge via Caixin | Offshore listings by Chinese firms surged to record highs in 2018, fueled by strong demand from global investors chasing some of China’s hottest names, especially in the technology sector. That listing wave is expected to continue into 2019, but could quickly peter out if recent bearish sentiment becomes the norm, observers said.
DWS | How should a hedge fund have positioned itself if it had known the U.S. Federal Reserve’s (Fed’s) decisions and press release a day ahead of the market? Until lunchtime on Wednesday noon its staff might have reasonably concluded that the material contained preciously little actionable information. On paper, it would have all looked exactly as expected, leaving limited scope for any meaningful market reaction. This is not, of course, how things actually turned out.
J.L. M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) | Según los datos publicados la semana pasada por el Banco de España la tasa de morosidad cayó en octubre hasta un 6,08%, 1,7 puntos más baja que en diciembre y muy por debajo del 8,41% de hace un año.
Alphavalue | Between May 2017 and September 2018, Telefónica´s stock price has fallen -37.5% before recovering +20% in the last three months.
via The Conversation | The cabinet has stepped up contingency plans for a no-deal Brexit, with departments across Whitehall charged with making this a priority. Although all indications are that there is no majority in parliament for leaving without a deal, it remains a distinct possibility if no other deal can be passed before the March 29 deadline (assuming that Article 50 is not extended).
via The Conversation | Inequality is rising almost everywhere across the world – that’s the clear finding of the first ever World Inequality Report. In particular, it has grown fastest in Russia, India and China – places where this was long suspected but there was little accurate data to paint a reliable picture.
The collapse of DIA in the last three months has put an end to its adventure in the Spanish stock market, where it began to be listed in 2011. From Monday, Ence Energia and Celulosa is replacing the supermarket chain in the Ibex 35.
Spanish think tank Funcas points out that around 60% of the historic improvement in the current account balance comes from the adjustment of cyclical factors, in particular, the economic cycle and the evolution of the oil price, and 40% can be attributed to structural reasons: the process of fiscal consolidation, the ageing population, lower long term growth expectations and gains in competitivity.
Yiannis Mouzakis via Macropolis | The component of Greece’s gross domestic product (GDP) that experienced the most precipitous collapse during the crisis was investments. At its peak in the third quarter of 2007, gross fixed capital formation represented more than quarter of Greek GDP, at 27.4%. By the second quarter of 2015, it had plummeted to just 10.5 %. It partially recovered to nearly 15 % at the end of last year but in the latest quarter of 2018 it dropped again to 10.8%.