Bankinter| Biotech led falls in the session after the FDA (regulatory agency) approved its Alzheimer’s drug, developed together with Eisai, the first to delay the progression of the disease. The problem came from unexpected testing requirements and side-effect warnings about the drug, which could limit its effective use.
BancaMarch: Official data for June came in below expectations and the previous months’ figures were revised downwards. However, despite these data, the reading of the employment figures remains positive and shows a high level of dynamism. Specifically, 209,000 new jobs were created in June compared with 306,000 in the previous month and below the 230,000 expected. It should be noted that job creation in the private sector weakened more than…
Aristóbulo de Juan (Former Head of Banking Supervision. Bank of Spain) | The current obsession of bank regulators worldwide is capital, reinforcing capital. For good reasons: capital is fundamental. But, under the surface, this appears to be a nominal rather than effective fixation, at least judging by the questionable quality of some of the components of minimum capital required by regulators in Europe and elsewhere. Moreover, paradoxically, the regulatory and…
The US Treasury Secretary began a visit to China yesterday that is likely to last until Sunday. The expectation is that these meetings will lead to an easing of tensions between the world’s two largest economies given that, in Janet Yellen’s own words: “A disengagement of the world’s two largest economies would be destabilising for the global economy”. Today she also met with Premier Li Qiang. On the other hand,…
Bankinter: The minutes of the Fed’s 13/14 June meeting show a broad consensus on the decision for a pause in rate hikes although a majority of directors (16 out of 18) believe that some additional rate hikes in the future from the current level of 5.00%-5.25% are appropriate. There is also a consensus that rates should remain in tightening territory until inflation reaches its 2% target. The minutes hardly change…
BancaMarch : The energy ministry of Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the OPEC+ cartel, announced that the one million barrels per day cut in July will be extended to August to support “the stability and balance of oil markets”. At the same time, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced a reduction in the country’s output by an additional 500,000 barrels per day in August. Both announcements are part…
Banca March : In China this morning, manufacturing business confidence falls less than expected. Caixin’s manufacturing PMI index, which is more biased towards smaller companies, came in at 50.5 in June from 50.9 previously, but above the 50 expected. With this figure, business confidence remains in line with the expansion of activity in the sector, a far cry from the weakness shown by these indicators in other major world economies.
Banca March| The European Union and Mercosur – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – reached a free trade agreement in 2019 but it has since not been ratified owing to unresolved differences between the parties. Now the Mercosur members, who are meeting in Argentina, want to close the agreement “once and for all”, although they also warn that it will not be at any price. On the European side, reticence…
Bankinter | After the monetary policy panel with Lagarde (ECB), Powell (Fed), Bailey (BoE) and Ueda (BoJ), the messages of the last meetings were maintained, as expected. Lagarde, Powell and Bailey recalled that central banks are data dependent, that they take decisions “meeting by meeting” and that their work is not yet finished. Lagarde referred to a hike in July as quite likely, but did not give any guidelines for…
Banca March: Consumer confidence bounces back higher than expected in June, rising to 109.7 from 102.5 and above the 104 expected. With this acceleration in consumer confidence, the index reached its highest level since January 2022. This is positive given that both the current situation sub-index improved (155.3 vs. 148.9 previously) and the expectations component also improved (79.3 vs. 71.5 previously). Still in the US economy, we also had positive…