The Corner | March 6, 2015 | In yet more positive news for the Spanish economy, influential foundation FUNCAS has revised its growth projections upwards for 2015 to 3%. Increased consumption and an improvement in the construction sector are the chief reasons for the upward trend.
The Corner | March 5, 2015 | Markets are again looking to the ECB for a gauge as to where the continent is headed, with Mario Draghi expected to announce more detailed descriptions of the bank’s QE plan. Elsewhere, data from Germany, Italy and Greece are likely to highlight the divergent fortunes of countries within the single currency area.
MADRID | March 1, 2015 | By Sean Duffy | With positive figures being returned on a weekly basis from the Spanish Finance Ministry, Spain appears to have turned a corner in its quest for financial recovery. Yet while the figures are good news for policy makers, the lingering pall of high unemployment continues to cast a shadow over growth prospects.
MADRID | February 27th, | The Corner | Negative inflation is likely to be of more concern to German policy makers than it is to their Spanish counterparts today, with low prices being seen as good news for Spanish consumers and the economy as a whole. Elsewhere, attention will focus on Greek GDP, with the possibility that the latest data may underline some of the lingering difficulties between Greece and its EU partners.
The Corner | February 26, 2015 | Markets will be closely observing a swathe of data from the EU after positive figures from Germany and Spain. The consumer and business confidence indexes and the industrial and economic sentiment surveys are due to be published later this morning.
The Corner | February 24, 2015 | Figures published today will give an indication of the current state-of-play in the euro zone, with the release of inflation statistics and final GDP figures from the German economy for 2014.
MADRID | By Sean Duffy | Markets will be looking to how relations between the new Greek Government and European creditor nations play out in the week ahead. After a week of tense negotiations, the stakes are increasing all the time. Greek claims of insolvancy have irked its eurozone partners, but can all sides find a middle ground in the coming days?
ZURICH | UBS analysts | The recent general strength of the dollar has a bearing on commodity prices, clearly. Commodities are universally priced in dollars, and as homogenised products dollar appreciation should lead to a decline in commodity prices in dollar terms. However, the strength of the dollar against sterling (in 2008/9) or against the yen (sporadically since 2012) did not lead to UK or Japanese exporters cutting the dollar price of their manufactured products or services.
MADRID | Francisco López | The oil collapse, depreciation of the euro, low interest rates and the reduction of personal income tax are “temporary factors” that will allow the Spanish economy to grow faster than expected, according most analysts. Funcas forecasts that Spanish GDP will grow by 2.4% in 2015, 0.2 higher than their previous estimates.
MADRID | By Fernando G. Urbaneja | There is a consensus amongst Spanish economists, who are forecasting a growth in GDP of 1.3% in 2014 and 2% in 2015. The Government shares this view and, on this basis, has already outlined the draft of next year’s budget. It believes that the “recovery and increased employment” phase is already under way, and in fact, that Spain is showing better indexes than the Euro zone average.