Sad reality…
MADRID | By Álex García and @senoritapuri
Articles by The Corner
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Banking Union progresses at a snail’s pace
LONDON | By BARCLAYS | EU Finance Ministers adopted the regulations that pave the way for a single bank supervision in the euro area. As we had expected, however, they failed to make significant progress on a single resolution mechanism. As long as the banking union remains incomplete, the link between banks and sovereigns will not be fully broken and financial fragmentation will continue to prevail.
U.S. Debt Ceiling: What if There is No Deal?
THE CORNER | Negotiations over a Senate plan to reopen the U.S. government and extend the debt ceiling were placed on hold, then renewed on Tuesday evening. Rhetoric and accusations between republicans and democrats are intensifying, as the fateful day approaches. Will the U.S. default on its obligations?
Spanish Treasury takes advantage of investors’ optimism
MADRID | By Francisco López | Markets have positively changed their perception on the Spanish economy, as we saw in Tuesday’s Ibex bullish rally. The index surpassed the 9,800 points barrier. Also, the latest Treasury auctions have been successful and the risk premium is stable.
Iceland: 5 years on, nationalism is growing inside capital controls
LONDON | By Sigrún Davíðsdóttir | Thinking back to five years ago, Iceland was forced to take the right decisions, not saving the big banks. But that was perhaps the easy decision: after all, the major part of creditors in these banks were foreigners. Later on, frantic attempts were made to save the very Icelandic banks, i.e. Saga Capital, VBS and some saving societies. Now, the idea is to tax estates where foreigners are ca. 90% of creditors whereas other failed financial companies are not taxed. “Fuck the foreigners” was a policy after the collapse – and it still seems to be the only policy five years after the collapse.
Is EU Red Tape Choking Growth?
MADRID | By Tania Suárez | European Red Tape has been subject to a lot of criticism due to its harsh conditions. A British Government report released on Tuesday claims that “EU regulation is strangling economic growth.” PM David Cameron said it was time for Brussels to “commit to more concrete measures to get rid of the unnecessary regulation which holds our businesses, and Europe, back.”
‘The Auto-Chancellor’
BERLIN | By von Dietmar Neuerer at Handelsblatt via Presseurop | Following an intiative by the German government, European environment ministers opted on October 14 to postpone sine die, a vote on stricter rules for CO2 emissions from passenger cars, which mainly targeted large German saloon cars, explains Handelsblatt.
Political reality ignores Nobel winner’s wisdom
WASHINGTON | By Pablo Pardo | Robert Schiller has always been an advocate of a moderate government intervention in financial markets. He also criticised the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing (QE) because he considered that asset prices are not among the areas of central banks. However, political reality seems to go in the opposite direction of the new Nobel winner.
Euro area Industrial production: fragile recovery underway
LONDON | By BARCLAYS | Euro area industrial production rose significantly by 1.0% m/m in August, broadly in line with our expectations (+0.9% m/m, consensus: +0.8% m/m). This increase offset the drop recorded in July entirely.
Telefonica to Sell its Czech Stake for $3.6 Billion
MADRID | The Corner Team | Telefonica is preparing a sale of its stake in the Czech Republic’s biggest phone company to raise cash for further industry consolidation, according to three sources familiar with the deal who preferred to stay anonymous. The stake had a market value of about $3.6 billion before Monday’s increase. The stock rose as much as 6.9 percent.