Despite the fact the implantation of the digital economy in the western world is unstoppable, the problems and the barriers remain. Proof of that is that the European Union has lost its digital leadership. The creation of a Single European Digital Market could redress that situation.
Since the Eurozone’s recovery started two years ago, the number of people in work has grown in all EU member states individually during the last seven quarters. In Q2’15 it expanded by 1.9% on a y-o-y basis.
BARCLAYS | The minority conservative government led by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho was ousted present week after the parliament rejected his government’s programme by a vote of 123 to 107. Political uncertainty is likely to continue to weigh on Portugal’s funding costs, despite the very accommodative monetary policy of the ECB.
The Icelandic government needs to decide on if to privatise the banks again and then how it should be done. Bjarni Benediktsson leader of the Independence Party has aired his idea that five percent should be given to the nation. The most famous example of a privatisation based on giving away shares was the rather notorious privatisation in Russia in the 1990s.
James Alexander via Historinhas | The Bank of England published its quarterly Inflation Report for November 2015 last week. The fact that the BoE is missing its 2% inflation target by more than 1% set in train the usual mini-flurry of letters to and from their political masters at the UK finance ministry, aka The Treasury. While reading the Treasury reply I spotted that there had been an “evolution in UK monetary policy”, I was forced to read on.
What future is there for Europe if each country understands the European destiny in its own way? The aim is to stabilise the euro. But each country has a different solution for achieving that. And at the centre of all the debates is Germany. Whatever it does, it upsets the apple cart.
One of the main reasons that Alexis Tsipras wanted to hold elections as soon as possible after agreeing the third bailout in August was that it gave him the best chance of obtaining a fresh mandate before the impact of the latest set of fiscal measures was felt by the average voter.
Europe needs a huge investment drive and that can only come from the breadbasket of Germany. Something similar to the Marshall Plan would benefit everyone, even Germany, as new markets could be opened, while the income of stagnating countries would be increased.
The Spanish economy is in the “champions league” in terms of GDP growth, but has failed the deficit, unemployment and debt exams. The autumn forecasts from the European Commission raised the deficit non-compliance to 4.7% of GDP for this year and 3.6% for 2016, well off the levels of 4.2% and 2.8%, respectively, previously agreed with Brussels.
UBS | Several oil companies shared their views on refining margins over the 3Q reporting season and CMDs over the past month and we find these often contrast with investors’ views as companies were generally reasonably positive about the outlook for margins for the next few months. Several companies (BP, Neste) highlighted that the global refining supply/demand outlook is fairly balanced for 2016.