MADRID | By Tania Suárez | European markets seem more optimistic lately, their benchmarks being on green numbers, especially the Ibex 35. The Spanish Index benefited from the US administration fuss (painful shutdown, possible delay of the FED’s plans…) and has performed better than its European colleagues. But not only the Ibex is on the rise: Spanish turnover keeps well above maximum levels.
PARIS | By DPA | Protesting students of Paris high schools hold a banner reading “Valls out”, for Interior Minister Manuel Valls during a demonstration in Paris, on Thursday in anger over expulsion of immigrant families. Photo:AP
LONDON | By Michael Burke at The Guardian via Presseurop | After three years of public sector spending cuts, Ireland looks set to exit the EU-ECB-IMF bailout programme on December 15, but at what cost? The country remains mired in depression and the economy is now hollowed out. (Illustration: “Informal Meeting of ECOFIN Ministers in Dublin” by Eoin Kelleher).
MADRID | By Francisco López | If the efficient markets hypothesis is true, it’s almost sure that Spanish banks will pass next year stress tests. The stock market is clearly betting on the strength of the country’s banking sector, as the rise in its market capitalization by 40 billion euro in just four months shows. Also, its price rose an average of 40% in 2013 and most of them are trading above their book value.
LONDON | Barclays analysts | US equities rallied strongly and high-beta/high-yielding currencies benefited most in response to initial news of the deal. This positive sentiment has supported most Asian equities today. However, the reaction in currency markets has been more muted, perhaps reflecting the high degree of market optimism on a resolution since the US government shutdown began on 1 October.
LONDON | By BARCLAYS | The Portuguese government presented yesterday the draft Budget Law for 2014. Fiscal measures to be deployed amount to EUR3.9bn (2.4% of GDP), about 0.4% of GDP above the EUR3.3bn announced in May when the cabinet approved additional austerity measures to meet revised fiscal targets for this year and next (EUR1.4bn in 2013 and EUR3.3bn in 2014).
MASSACHUSETTS | By Richard N. Cooper via Caixin | As ice cover yields to global warming, many countries are eying a range of economic benefits, but they may be harder to attain than imagined.
OXFORD | By Nayef Al-Rodhanvia via BBVA Open Mind | “Why do they hate us?” is a question often asked among the American population since September 11, 2001. At the same time, Arab-Islamic populations around the world find themselves in a similar predicament. Ubiquitous misrepresentations and alienating stereotypes pervade through security discourses, conflating images of an extremist minority with the attitudes of the peaceful majority.
PARIS | By Ludovic Lamant at Mediapart via Presseurop | Disagreements between the European Commission and the IMF on how to end the debt crisis in Europe continue to grow. Starting in Brussels, it is possible to envisage the careful dismantling of the group.
MADRID | By Francisco López | The change in the Fed’s plans regarding the withdrawal of monetary stimulus is another consequence of the political row between Democrats and Republicans.