A hundred-year stagnation? For who?
By Alberto Forchielli via Caixin | The prospects for growth in the West may be dim, but that doesn’t mean Asia’s developing countries must settle for privation.
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The Corner
Falling oil prices are killing the ruble
MADRID | The Corner | The ruble plummeted on Monday, suffering its worst daily fall since Russia’s 1998 crisis, plunging more than 6% against the dollar before recovering to losses of around 4% Lowering oil prices are killing the currency, and yet Moscow does not intend to cut production in 2015, leaving output at the current 525-526 million metric tons. Russian analysts commenting for The Corner explained there is enough currency liquidity in the market to handle the shock. At least for now.
When it comes to growth, does the end always justify the means?
MADRID | By Álex García.
Markets take ECB’s QE for granted
MADRID | The Corner | Inflation in the eurozone is not picking up. Expectations aren’t either. And the ECB’s balance sheet expansion is almost inexistent. PMI indicators (which the central bank is closely watching) are trending downwards. In this context, Barclays analysts comment, it is not strange that markets are expecting more QE from the Frankfurt. But when? Probably not this week.
US grows while the shadow of stagnation threats the EZ
MADRID | The Corner | The leading indicators of the manufacturing sector both in Europe and the US will be announced on Monday. China’s indicators showed an economic slowdown of the sector, which could force the government to implement new stimuli measures. Together with the service sector index, which has a bigger impact on the developed economies, these indicators will show -again, two divergent scenarios: 1) the American economy keeps on growing at a good pace after two quarters in which the GDP increased more than 4% on average, 2) the economy of the Eurozone continues its slow expansion, but there is a threat of stagnation, according to experts at Link Securities.
Keynesians Trojan horse a sign of changing times at OECD
MADRID | By Sean Duffy | The OECD´s economic outlook showed that voices calling for action in Europe are growing louder. With the outcomes of austerity and budgetary consolidation continuing to drag down the economy, Catherine L Mann´s arrival as its chief economist represents a significant coup for advocates of the opposite recipe.
Foreign tourists starting to flock back to Spain
MADRID | The Corner | According to the tourist expenditure survey EGATUR, foreign tourists spent €56.374 billion in Spain in the first ten months of 2014, an increase of 7% compared to the same period in 2013, and a new record. The increase, however, is due to a greater influx of visitors.
Spanish economic confidence on the rise
MADRID | The Corner | The indicator of economic confidence of Spain stood at 104.2 points, a sharp rise of nine tenths in November, and its highest level since August 2007, Brussels reported. The upturn in confidence in the Southern EZ economy is explained by the observed improvement in the manufacturing sector, services and retail, while consumer confidence and construction deteriorated compared to October.
Markets may thrive in bad EZ inflation data
MADRID | The Corner | Trading trends in the Euro today are expected to be determined by the Euro-zone’s crucial CPI data. As happened yesterday with Spanish and German data, consumer prices are expected to do down in November, due to an energy prices drop. Will the European Central Bank feel any pressure to act? Then bad news could turn a blessing for financial markets.
Waiting for Godot in Greece
ATHENS | By Jens Bastian via MacroPolis | According to its Wikipedia article, Waiting for Godot by Irish writer Samuel Beckett is an absurdist play, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for the arrival of someone named Godot. The current situation in Athens has remarkable similarities with this classic piece of European literature.