Germany

In Europe 27th August 2014

A QE would be key for Germany, France and Italy to overcome their current stagnation

MADRID | By Francisco López | Are there reasons for such optimism after Draghi’s words in Jackson Hole? Yes, but only if Draghi dares to execute a program of sovereign debt purchases immediately. It happens that not all experts are clear that it will be the case. Especially, because the package of measures adopted by the ECB in June has still not been implemented: two TLTROs auctions and the Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) program. Would it not be better to wait to check the effects of these measures?

Spanish economy 26th August 2014

Merkel supports Luis de Guindos to be the next President of the Eurogroup

MADRID |The Corner | After a meeting between Mariano Rajoy and Angela Merkel in Santiago de Compostela, the German chancellor gave her support to the candidature of the Spanish Economy Minister, Luis de Guindos, to succeed Jeroen Dijsselbloem as President of the Eurogroup. As Barclays analysts comment, “with Italy’s and France’s leftwing governments and UK in or out of the EU, Spain is now a more attractive partner.” Regarding Germany, Angela Merkel recognised that the crisis in Ukraine is damaging the German economy. Nevertheless, Merkel affirmed that she forecasts a good annual growth if nothing dramatic happens.

In Europe 25th August 2014

Germany’s business climate continues to worsen, but labor market keeps its strength

BERLIN | By Alberto Lozano | German IFO index has shown today that business climate continues to worsen. The German Business Sentiment registered its fourth consecutive decline after falling 1.7 points from the previous month to 106.3 points, representing its worst reading since July 2013 decline. “The German economy continues to lose steam”, indicates Hans-Werner Sinn, president of the IFO Institute. “The outlook for the coming months also deteriorated noticeably.”

In Europe 19th August 2014

Bundesbank: the economy has not changed direction

BERLIN | Alberto Lozano | After the strong performance of the German stock market yesterday, one of the hardest hit in recent weeks by the greater exposure of its companies to the Russian market, Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann expressed his confidence in the growth of the German economy and the euro area during the second half of the year after the paralysis of the second quarter. In fact, Bundesbank considers that the “accumulation of bad news” is responsible of the decline in the 2Q, what could change the spring forecasts, although the basic trend suggests a strengthening in the second half of the year. Moreover, the Bundesbank wanted to make clear that although “the sentiment has deteriorated from a high level, the fact that the trend for domestic demand continues basically high suggests the economy has not changed direction.”

In Europe 15th August 2014

Putin’s ‘moderate’ speech calm the investors

MADRID | By J. J. Fdez-Figares (LINK) | The main European and American stock markets closed yesterday up in a new session with low activity and reduced volatility, where the investors interpreted the words of the Russian President Putin, in his speech in Crimea, as an attempt to avoid the international isolation of his country as a result of their involvement in Ukraine. Yesterday again the macroeconomic figures published in the Eurozone surprised negatively because to the shrinking economic growth in Germany in the 2Q 2014, the first produced since 1Q 2012 during the euro crisis, the stagnation of the French economy and in the whole of the eurozone during the same period – the German and French economies account for about 50% of the Eurozone.

Spanish economy 14th August 2014

Spain’s growth beats its EZ larger peers in the 2Q

MADRID | The Corner | Spain’s GDP expanded by 0.6% in the 2Q of 2014 over the previous quarter, the fastest pace in the Eurozone after Latvia’s growth (+1%). With Portugal (+0.6%) and Netherlands (+0.5%), Spain becomes one of the best economic performers in the eurozone during this quarter. Moreover, according to the figures published today by Eurostat, the Euro area has stalled in the 2Q, especially as a result of the contraction of Germany, the Italian fall into recession and France’s stagnation. Meanwhile, the Greek economy contracted by 0.2%, the lowest drop since 3Q 2008 and it could show that the country is meeting its full year growth target of 0.6% for 2014.

In Europe 14th August 2014

Germany: the sick market of Europe?

BERLIN | Alberto Lozano | Some figures were already announcing during the last weeks that Germany was losing momentum. Its equity market also was the 3rd worst performer since the European market peaked on June 10th, so the GDP fall of 0.2% in the largest economy of the Euro area is not a surprise. A negative effect from the balance of exports and imports and a fall in construction are the main causes for this slight GDP decrease. However, both households and government consumed slightly more than in the previous quarter. Therefore, growth in consumption and imports might be a positive signal for the Europe’s largest economy in the coming quarters of 2014.

In Europe 13th August 2014

German investors lose their confidence in Europe’s growth engine

MADRID | By J. J. Fdez-Figares (LINK) | After the rises experienced by the European and American stocks on Monday, these markets showed yesterday certain weakness, leading to a mixed closing in the major indices in Europe and negative in US. Thus, and since the beginning of the day in Europe some profit taking by the short-term investors were observed, who profited from the rebound that many values experienced on the day before. As there was a lack of relevant developments in the three main geopolitical conflicts (Ukraine, Iraq and Gaza), the investors’ attention turned to macroeconomic data, particularly towards indices released yesterday by the German institute ZEW.

In Europe 8th August 2014

Germany’s domestic demand might be taking the helm

BERLIN | By Alberto Lozano | At the end of the week, good news are coming from Germany’s trade data. After calendar and seasonal adjustment, German imports rose by 4.5% on the month, rebounding from a sharp fall in May (-3.4%) with the highest month-on-month increase since November 2010. In addition, German exports increased by 0.9%, narrowing the criticised surplus to 16.2 billion euros from 18.8 billion the previous month.

Markets 8th August 2014

Ibex: -5.8% in the first 5 sessions of August

MADRID | By J. J. Fdez-Figares (LINK) | European stocks closed yesterday again with notable declines -with the exception of the Swiss- pressured by a complicated geopolitical scenario, while the macroeconomic figures in the region continue to disappoint. Thus, European stock markets began the day in negative tone after economic sanctions agreed by Russia against the European countries and with the speculation that the country will send troops to Ukraine. The Spanish index Ibex 35 goes through the worst beginning of August since 2011.

« 1 … 20 21 22 23 24 … 42 »