ATHENS | By Jens Bastian via Macropolis | In the future we may look back on the past two weeks as a watershed moment for Greek banks following the onset of the twin financial and sovereign debt crisis in 2009. After extensive and well prepared international road shows, financial institutions in Athens attracted unprecedented levels of foreign investors’ interest for bond placements and capital-raising initiatives.
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | Repsol could sell its 30% participation in Gas Natural before the summer. 20 % of it would go for sovereign wealth funds (yet unidentified) and 10 % through quick placement of shares. RENTA 4 believes the company will monetize the operation if other worthy investment opportunities are identified. SABADELL finds the move logical within negotiations with La Caixa (which controlls 1/3 of Repsol’s capital). ACF highlights that Gas Natural shares are turning out very profitable in dividend for Repsol (4.5%), making this sale not that attractive for that firm.
MADRID | By Francisco López | Investors keep betting on European actives, even though the eurozone economies are facing some serious problems: deflation risk, unemployment records and even a possible war in Ukraine. Why does the European stock exchanges dominate analysts’ recommendations?
LONDON | By Barclays analysts | There appears to be increasing market doubt over the sustainability of the “Japan trade”. Year- to-date, the yen has rallied more than 3%, while the Nikkei is down 11%, placing it among the worst performing indices of the year. This is due in part to concerns over the impact of the forthcoming fiscal drag as the VAT hike takes effect on April 1st.
WASHINGTON | By Mike Konczal at The New Republic, via The Next New Deal | Our problem today was not caused by a lack of business and banking regulations,” argued Ron Paul in his 2009 manifesto End the Fed, which outlined a theory of the financial crisis that only implicated government policy and the Federal Reserve, while mocking the idea that Wall Street’s financial engineering and derivatives played any role. “The only regulations lacking were the ones that should have been placed on the government officials who ran roughshod over the people and the Constitution.”
MADRID | By Álex García.
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | Spanish government plans to create a state firm to house the failed toll roads, which will issue a 30-year bond of around 2.3 billion euros to pay the motorways’ debt. Also, creditor banks will be forced to accept a 50 percent haircut. In this regard, analysts at ACF and Sabadell don’t expect a considerable harm on licensed building companies’ share price.
MADRID | By Francisco López | Spanish debt’s low interests in the beginning of the year have resulted in a flood of Treasuries as well as corporate and regional bonds. Just last week, the country’s public Treasury placed more than €8 billion and financed 33% of € 133.3bn foreseen by the end of 2014 in less than three months.
Anna Pivovarchuk | As Western media focuses on the Crimean crisis, Russia intensifies its assault on civil society. At the end of January, TV Rain, Russia’s independent news channel, was taken off air.On February 24, over 200 people were detained for protesting the verdict in the Bolotnaya case that saw seven antigovernment demonstrators sentenced for assault. One of them publishes a blog about investigations of money laundering and theft by government officials, It was recently blocked.
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | 13.8 million people checked in Spanish hotels last month, 5.5 % more than February’s last year, according to official data. Frontur Spain highlights that 6.2 million tourists have visited the country so far this year. Bankia analysts highlight how this crucial industry for the country’s GDP seems to be overcoming the crisis, growing for the third consecutive month.