Fernando Barciela |At first sight, Telefonica’s third quarter and nine months to September results couldn’t be better. Between January and September, the company posted a 12% rise in consolidated revenues to 35.4 billion euros. Net income increased by a spectacular 69.6% to 46 billion euros in the same period.
Caixin | The Communist Party’s 18th Central Committee released a proposal for a major economic development plan on October 29 at the end of a four-day plenum, the fifth time the body has met. In the proposal, the party notes that China still has a lot of room to grow, even though it is facing an array of challenges stemming from shifts in the domestic economy and uncertainty abroad.
Nilanjana Sen | With over half the world’s population living in cities, the 21st century has been described as the urban century. It is estimated that 75% of the global population will be living in cities by 2050.
UBS | Several oil companies shared their views on refining margins over the 3Q reporting season and CMDs over the past month and we find these often contrast with investors’ views as companies were generally reasonably positive about the outlook for margins for the next few months. Several companies (BP, Neste) highlighted that the global refining supply/demand outlook is fairly balanced for 2016.
There is a definite clash between investors and economists over the US economy. According to Intermoney’s Spanish analysts, markets are looking for reasons to take apart the thesis about the country’s resilient activity, arguing that moderate growth is insufficient. Then there are the economic purists, including many Fed members, who are confident the US recovery is sustainable.
Peter Lundgreen via Caixin | Back in 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron promised a referendum about the country’s future in the European Union if he got re-elected in a national election this year, and now a vote on the issue is set for 2017 at the latest.
Benjamin Cole via Historinhas | Motor vehicle sales are booming in the United States, up 10% in the last year, and double since the Great Recession. Thanks to blogger Kevin Erdmann of Idiosyncratic Whisk, we have a better understanding of inflation in the U.S. and the role that ubiquitous local property zoning plays in suffocating supply, and thus boosting price.
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) announced yesterday that it has removed BBVA from its list of 30 global systemically important banks. Spain’s second biggest entity has been included in this list since 2012. But the lender will still be subject to other loss-absorbing capacity obligations, such as Minimum Requirement for Own Funds and Eligible Liabilities (MREL).
After the damp squib of the Chinese plenary session, the ongoing weakness in manufacturing surveys offers little comfort. Combination of US monetary policy risk, weak earnings season & manufacturing and recent rally make the directional outlook more vulnerable. Meanwhile, Europe’s recovery remains far more tangible.