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.
NEW YORK | By Nell Abernathy via Next New Deal |Unemployment is still a major problem in the U.S., and the best solutions involve a more aggressive government response. The skeptics will argue that the government is too inefficient and bureaucratic to effectively create middle class jobs and support economic growth. But the 2009 stimulus package provides a prime example of effective government intervention: it was designed to create 2-3 million jobs, and it succeeded.
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | After the storm always comes the calm, and the dividend. Bankia’s Chairman José Ignacio Goirigolzarri revealed in the General Shareholders Assembly on Friday when first dividend will be distributed, probably in 2015. Restructuring plan (in record-breaking time) prevented the bank from doing so in 2014 and 2014. Reward wouldn’t just benefit small stockholders but also the State, that would get back part of the €22.4bn disbursed for BFA-Bankia bailout.
SHANGHAI | By Andy Xie via Caixin | The current Internet boom and the new economy, centered around social networking, e-commerce and online gaming, has not produced a significant productivity boost for the economy and likely will not in the future. The boom is mostly about redistributing existing demand from offline to online.
MADRID| By Francisco López | Spanish banks are the most closely examined in the world, but it does not seem to be enough for supervising institutions. The ECB has urged them to undergo a new and comprehensive assessment of their exposure to real state sector before the European banking industry’s Asset Quality Review previous to the stress tests that will take place by the end of the year. The central bank has rejected that Spain’s entities use 2012’s review by audit firm Oliver Wyman. Even though ,they reckon, that would save money and time.
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | Moderate falls on European stock markets today as they assimilate this ‘hawkish’ message from the Fed. In Spain, another operation adds to Prisa’s restructuring of its debt burden of over 3 billion euros.
MADRID | By Álex García.
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | Inditex is pushing Spanish Ibex 35 upwards today as its growth reaches maturity stage. The owner of Zara is working to reduce operative costs. However, its shareholders will get a 10% higher dividend. Bankinter considers the Spanish firm results to be somewhat weak. Euro’s strengh, slow domestic recovery, emerging countries slowdown could explain such underperformance.
MADRID | By Luis Alcaide, Luis Martí and Jaime Santisteban | Deputy Director General at the European Union’s Financial Services Nadia Calviño considers that the EBA must keep playing an important role in the coordination of the financial supervision. She believes that transparency is a key issue that must prevail within the process of the European integration in the Eurozone.
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | Markets consolidate advances reached yesterday and Wall Street endeavours to awaken from its slumber with an increase of about 1%. No earthquake in sight, provided that sanctions for Russia remain light. America didn’t disappoint: industrial production grew in February by 0.6 %. In Spain, Sacyr will continue to celebrate the agreement to conclude the works of the Panama Canal and Jazztel benefits from the Vodafone-ONO operation.