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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.
No Picture

World economy 6th October 2014

A Nobel Prize for discovering our inner GPS

MADRID | The Corner | Right now, you are sitting on your desk and plan to grab a sandwich from the vending machine, then consider investing on a stock. Your plans are clear. But do you know why you know that? Neuroscientists John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Mos are the discoverers of that mechanism, our brain’s GPS, or cells that form a positioning system in it. They were awarded with the Nobel Prize of Medicine on Monday in Stockholm. Their research could mean advances in the Alzheimer research. 

lord hill

In Europe 6th October 2014

Capital markets union and Lord Hill’s answers to next hearing

MADRID | The Corner | Newly appointed Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, Jonathan Hill, received a “written exam” from the Parliament’s ECON Committee, whose members felt he had failed to sufficiently answer their questions at his first hearing. Lord Hill replied with his answers in writing on Sunday (see link below). Unfortunately, while Hill appears happy to offer his take on financial regulation, he was rather less forthcoming when it came to revealing his ties with The City of London.

 

 

No Picture

Markets 6th October 2014

Markets stall as fractious ECB fails to convince

MADRID | The Corner | Expect the market to stagnate in the days ahead, as markets continue to slump in the wake of the ECB’s disappointing announcement last Thursday and growing differences between the central bank’s counselors, who have failed to  agree on how to back ABS purchases. Whether it’s due to technical or fundamental reasons, the reality is that France (Mr Noyer) is against granting such state guarantees, in addition to Germany (Mr Weidmann) and Austria (Mr Nowotny).

No Picture

In Europe 6th October 2014

European Investment Banks: Q314 – It’s all about September

ZURICH | The Corner | UBS analysts explain that in September, volatility started rising in almost all major markets and asset classes. Higher Rates and FX volatility, driven by diverging monetary policies in the US and Europe, typically suggest higher activity and more favourable operating conditions for FICC. Although UBS analyts are still cautious about FICC for structural reasons, some cyclical improvement and potential upgrades in FICC consensus estimates for Q3 2014 are now more likely (UBS tweaks his CS and DBK 2014E EPS forecasts 2% and 3% upwards, respectively). For global IBs, they forecast FICC revenues up 9%, Equities up 3% and IBD up 12% y/y. In the European IB space, they prefer Barclays and SocGen for stock specific reasons.

ECB1

Markets 4th October 2014

ECB: More questions than answers

MADRID | The Corner | The ECB disappointed all those who were keen to gain more concrete information on how it wants to expand its balance sheet over the coming months. Instead, Mr Draghi pointed out that inflation expectations, not balance sheet size, remain the ultimate yardstick of current and future ECB action. “We think this is the right communications strategy as we had become concerned that the ECB would set fairly explicit balance sheet targets that it might struggle to attain. The ECB offered a more cautious assessment of the growth and inflation outlook and left the door open for additional unconventional measures. Nevertheless, our base case scenario remains that sovereign QE will not be triggered,” UBS analysts commented.

moscovici hearing

In Europe 3rd October 2014

Moscovici: between French drive and German rigour

BRUSSELS | By Alexandre Mato | “I’m French, I’m deeply French, I will remain French”, the former finance Minister said before EU legislators, eliciting uproarious laughs from those present, a remark which was followed by a declaration of independence “but here I will stand as a European Commissioner”. There is much at stake, and Pierre Moscovici was attempting to reassure Europe that his was a brief to ensure growth in an economy that can scarcely afford the spending required to do so.

 

ECB

Markets 2nd October 2014

ECB officially unveils its much awaited next move- yet not its size

Madrid | The Corner | We imagined the ECB wouldn’t unveil specific details about the size and form of its next move. Mario Draghi just explained on Thursday that they will be acquiring private sector assets: covered bonds from eurozone banks in mid-October and asset-backed securities (ABS) at some point in 4Q14 and for at least two years. The Frankfurt based institution kept rates at 0.05% and will be expanding its balance sheet up to March 2012 levels, which is, €1Tr, in order to spur the economic recovery.

No Picture

Spanish economy 2nd October 2014

2014 Spain’s fiscal adjustment on target; 2015 more challenging

(By Barclays) | The Spanish government presented the details of the 2015 draft fiscal budget on Wednesday and the updated macroeconomic outlook underpinning it. There are few changes on the fiscal targets and projections, although the government now expects the economy to grow this year by 1.3% and next by 2% (Barclays: 1.2% and 1.8%). The budget minister in the press conference saw very little risk of the sovereign meeting the deficit target of 5.5% of GDP this year. 

No Picture

World economy 2nd October 2014

China PMI fails to inspire

LONDON | By Christian Keller at Barclays | China’s official manufacturing PMI was flat at 51.1in September, slightly below Barclays’ forecast (51.3), but marginally above consensus of 51.0. The data reaffirmed the trend of improving external demand, but soft domestic demand. The China PMI data had a limited market impact, with local markets closed for National Day while AUD fell following the weak sales outcome.