MADRID | March 17, 2015 | By JP Marín Arrese | The cliffhanger tactics applied by Varoufakis have backfired. He has lost precious time in his bid to baptise the barbarous Troika under the more Christian and palatable name of Institutions.
The Corner | March 17, 2015 | EU wide inflation figures are expected to be in negative territory for the fourth consecutive month. Elsewhere in Europe, data on employment and economic sentiment are expected to show slight improvement for the month of February.
The Corner | March 16, 2015 | The week ahead is likely to be dominated by the FOMC meeting in the US. Market watchers are expecting some movement on the semantics of pronouncements by the US Fed. In essence, any change in language will signal that a rates hike from the central bank is drawing closer.
The Corner | March 13, 2015 | The ECB’s sovereign bond purchase programme has helped to reduce yields on Spanish bonds to record lows. Data from Italy is likely to show price falls in excess of 2%, while it will be no surprise to see further squabbling between Greece and its creditors over the weekend, particularly with yesterday’s intervention by the OECD.
ATHENS | March 12, 2015 | By Nick Malkoutzis via MacroPolis | At first it seemed like a harmless joke. “And now for one member state, all the men need to take off their ties,” said European Commission first vice-president Frans Timmermans at the end of a recent photo shoot for the College of Commissioners in Brussels. After all, the Greek government’s penchant for not wearing ties has been the cause of lightheartedness from the moment SYRIZA came to power.
The Corner | March 12, 2015 | EU inflation figures have offered a more encouraging picture than was predicted. Month-on-month inflation in the Spanish economy edged up 0.1% in February to 117.82, reversing a trend of four consecutive monthly declines.
The Corner | March 11, 2015 | A report by the Bank of Spain has laid bare the scale of losses in fiscal revenue during the financial crisis.
The Corner | March 11, 2015 | Varoufakis set to raid Greece’s social security fund with IMF loan loan repayment imminent.
The Corner | March 9, 2015 | The ECB will finally begin its purchasing of sovereign bonds today, but as ever, the Greek question continues to loom in the background. Greece will return to the forefront of events today at the meeting of the Eurogroup of finance ministers in Brussels. Weekend remarks from the Syriza led government seemed to spell out just how precarious the government’s financial situation now is. Yet once again, the country and its creditors appear polls apart on how best to proceed.
The Corner | March 6, 2015 | Markets are likely to be buoyed by the positive assessment of Mario Draghi yesterday, which will probably be backed up by euro zone growth figures for Q4, released later this morning. In other news, Spanish 10-year bonds are up for auction too, while Spain’s industrial sector is expected to return to positive territory