MADRID | May 8, 2015 | By Félix Lores Juberías and Ignacio San Martín at BBVA Reasearch | Housing sales growth moderated in February while the mortgage market regains dynamism. On the other hand, the upturn in construction activity was mirrored in the land market, with an increase in transaction numbers and a mild rise in the price of urban plots.
MADRID | March 23, 2015 | By Sean Duffy | Unemployment levels in the region are the highest in Spain. The winning socialist party has been involved in serious corruption cases, yet it managed to kick off a year of crucial elections in the country by holding on to the territory they have governed for 35 years.
MADRID | The Corner | Spanish Industrial Production figures proved disappointing on Friday, with results revealing that the sector had fallen 0.3% month-on- month and 0.9% year-on- year. The figures will be of some concern to the Finance Ministry given that the economy has recorded seven consecutive months of negative inflation.
BARCELONA | By Joan Tapia | Last month, I warned about the serious political problem in Spain, which was (and is) focused on the Catalonian crisis and the rise of the new political party Podemos. Both could disrupt the political system and kill off imperfect bipartisanship. Meanwhile, the economy was starting to show some signs of improvement. In November, the perception that the economy is improving while politics are worsening has increased and multiplied. It is difficult to argue with the fact that the economy is going better than last year.
WASHINGTON | By Pablo Pardo | Lefty populism is on the rise in Spain, helped by the financial crisis, and a cascade of scandals that has so far tarnished all the traditional (i.e., pre-existing) parties from the Left and the Right. Podemos, the leftie, Hugo Chávez-inspired party that advocates defaulting on the Spanish debt (to the delight of The Financial Times) could win the elections, according to some polls.
WASHINGTON | By Pablo Pardo | Since the inception of constitutions in modern nation-states, none have undergone such turbulence as those drawn up in Europe. The raison d’être of the European Union is to avoid further turbulence in the future. It is no coincidence that the violent conflicts that have broken out in Europe since World War Two have been outside the EU, in former Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia.
MADRID | By Sean Duffy | This weekend´s controversial “non-binding consultation” has caused quite the stir in international media over the past number of days. Reports asserted that 80 % of Catalans had voted in favour of Catalonia becoming an independent state. Yet that figure ignores almost 60% of the electorate who chose not to take part in Sunday´s vote. Those numbers point to a rather more nuanced narrative than the one currently being posited by the Catalan independence movement and many reporters.
BARCELONA | By Joan Tapia | The emergence of the leftwing party Podemos (We Can) and the ghost of a forthcoming political instability weight more on Spanish politics than an unquestionable economic improvement (which is too slow and risky). Anyway the advantage of the conservative Popular Party (PP) in power compared to the Socialist Party (PSOE) was reduced during summer from 8.8 to 3.6 points.
MADRID | The Corner | Expect the market to stagnate in the days ahead, as markets continue to slump in the wake of the ECB’s disappointing announcement last Thursday and growing differences between the central bank’s counselors, who have failed to agree on how to back ABS purchases. Whether it’s due to technical or fundamental reasons, the reality is that France (Mr Noyer) is against granting such state guarantees, in addition to Germany (Mr Weidmann) and Austria (Mr Nowotny).
MADRID | J.P. Marín Arrese | Heavy turnout in the Scottish referendum ensured a clear victory for those rejecting independence. Yet, a huge share of citizens showed their readiness to switch-on the atomic bomb, regardless of the awesome consequences.