MADRID | The Corner | February 25, 2015 | Spanish telecom giant Telefonica reported a drop of 34.7% in net profit, although investors celebrated revenue picture brightening up. Elsewhere, the Spanish Producer Price Index falls again, registering a drop of 2.8% for January.
MADRID | February 24, 2015 | By Carlos Díaz Güell | Spanish banks’ NPLs rate went down by 1.1% in 2014 standing at 12.5% thanks to the sharp fall of the delinquency rate (12.5% year on year) that offset the impact of banks’ reducing their lending activity. In fact, if lending had remained stable in 2014 (it went down by -4.6%), the default rate would have been of 11%.
The Corner | February 24, 2015 | Figures published today will give an indication of the current state-of-play in the euro zone, with the release of inflation statistics and final GDP figures from the German economy for 2014.
ATHENS | By Nick Malkoutzis via MacroPolis | Is Friday’s agreement at the Eurogroup a good deal for Greece? In some respects it is but in more respects it is not. Above all, the four-month agreement leaves Greece walking an economic and political tightrope over the next four months without knowing what lies at the end of it.
NEW YORK | By Peter Tchir via Truman | Much has been made of the “Game Theory” behind the Greek Debt Negotiations. It is complex as it is not just Greece versus Germany, but other countries have a say, and then there are the purely EU level politicians, making this all very complex. I have been thinking a lot about one of the classes I took in college that had some element of “Game Theory” to it.
MADRID, February 20, 2015 | By Fernando G Urbaneja | The Government and Spanish companies are taking advantage of low interest rates as a means of reducing overall indebtedness.
MADRID, February 20, 2015 | The Corner | Non-performing loans in Spain continue to decline, with the total ratio of bad debts now standing at 12.5% of total outstanding loans. The figures represent the fourth consecutive decline in non-performing loans and now stand at the lowest level since September 2013. The figure is over 100bps less than the 13.6% recorded in December 2013, in spite of overall lending falling by -4.6%.
MADRID, February 23, 2015 | By Sean Duffy | Friday´s deal was a relief for all involved, yet it remains to be seen if a frantic weekend of number cruncing from Greek officials will meet the strict criteria outlined in the agreement. German bank Berenberg cut the chances of a Grexit to 25% from 35% on Monday.
MADRID | By Soren Willemann at Barclays | European credit markets have been outperforming equities persistently since October 2014. However, following the recent ECB announcements, this relationship has shifted dramatically, with credit spreads now trading wide vs equities on a historical basis.
By Alexandre Mato in BRUSSELS & Sean Duffy in MADRID | A day of hard negotiations finally produced a positive outcome.Greece will work throughout the weekend to ready proposals for Monday´s meeting, but politicans were visibly relieved after an arduous week.