World economy

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Sabadell bank’s Jaume Guardiola: “This is the first euro crisis, we’re learning”

MADRID | In a interview published by El País this weekend, Jaume Guardiola, Banco Sabadell’s CEO (which is the fifth Spanish bank in terms of assets) said he was very optimistic about the country’s financial system and its economy as a whole. Despite the crisis that besieges Spain’s banking sector, he noted the industry will become smaller and more professional. He also thinks that the Spanish economy is showing “unequivocal”…


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Engine failure in China

BEIJING | There’s a huge debate on what’s more appropriate for China: stimulus plans, sound investment or consumption incentives, to avoid the feared hard landing of its economy now that the Chinese model of development seems to be exhausted. The recipe was first applied in coastal areas. Due to its success it was later reapplied in the West to encourage a massive urbanization across the country. Unfortunately, the economic crises…


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Brazil’s economy to accelerate after summer

LONDON | Is there in these recent Brazil’s data a lesson for those in the Old Continent whose only talk is internal devaluation via salary cuts to regain competitiveness, while keeping the common currency too high for irrational fear of the inflation ghost? March brought a negative surprise with consumer credit non-performance rates in Brazil, which ticked up to 7.6% after having fallen to 7.4% in February. But that shouldn’t be…


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Rising U.S. home prices signs for a housing rebound

NEW YORK | American homebuilders feel they are sort of turning the corner. On Tuesday the home price sector reported its most-improved selling season in a long time: according to the widely watched S&P/Case-Shiller index, home prices rose in March from February in most major U.S. cities for the first time in seven months. Lower borrowing costs and an improving job market also gave business a boost. Economists believe that…


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UK family graph: living with your parents

LONDON | Speaking of deterioration of the real economy: in 2011, nearly 3 million adults aged between 20 and 34 were living with a parent or parents, an increase of almost half a million, or 20 per cent, since 1997. The Office for National Statistics pointed out that this is despite the number of people in the population aged 20 to 34 being largely the same in 1997 and 2011….


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The underwater America

NEW YORK | One of the current most visited exhibits at the Museum of Modern Art in New York is not dedicated to pop-art nor surrealistic sculpture but to mortgages. Foreclosed calls the home ownership American dream into question and shows how the suburban development has been not only environmentally aggressive in some states but financially unsound. “Many of the low-income people who bought at the height of the bubble…


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Weekend link fest

A curated selection of links we hope can enlighten us all; some come from our corner, some do from other corners of the net. And as always, our comment widgets are anxious to get your suggestions. How a company becomes a listed company like, let’s say, Facebook Can London pay for the Olympic Games? We give you Mr Hollande Don’t miss how much Africa is growing Hollande tax makes London look…


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Friday’s German chart: business sector feel euro unease

The IFO business index fell to 106.9 from 109.9 in April, only slightly above its recent low in October 2011 of 106.5. This was worse than the consensus expectations, which fell to 100.9 from 102.7, while the assessment of the current situation dropped to 113.3 from 117.5 in April. The IFO index is a monthly economic report, it surveys over 7,000 companies in Germany to obtain their opinion of the…


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Chinese and Mexican rain of investments come to Spain

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | China and Mexico made Spain’s day on Friday. Both countries announced several contracts with Spanish companies in very different sectors, injecting some movement in foreign investment flows into the lately much battered euro economy. While China signed agreements for an amount of €500 million, the Mexican oil company Pemex reported it will invest €247 million in Galicia’s naval sector. In his official trip to…


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The end of the Arab Spring effect on Spain’s tourism industry

More tourists so far than last year, but a downward move in traditionally important markets for Spain’s tourism sector. The accumulate figures this year from January to April indicate a rise of 1.1 percent in foreign tourists, with a total of 13.7 million, coming to Spain comparing to the same period in 2011. But April brought a fall in numbers by 4.5 million or 1.7 percent less foreign tourists in contrast…