By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | Fernando Luque is analyst and editor for Morningstar. In a conversation with The Corner, he said that Greece will not withdraw the euro because “that possibility is no good for anybody, neither for Greece, nor for Germany.” Luque explains that there are no shortcuts to solve the Greek crisis, but that will not necessarily damage other peripheral countries such as Italy or Spain. Question.-…
The seemingly dead weight of the peripheral economies continues to mark a divide within the common currency region. The overall picture, unavoidably, registers the cut. GDP fell by 0.2% in both the euro area and the EU during the second quarter of 2012, compared with the previous quarter. Also according to flash estimates published by Eurostat Tuesday, in the first quarter of 2012, growth rates were zero in both zones. Compared with…
That the peripheral economies of the euro zone show time and again evident scars of a struggling performance is bad news, but known bad news after all. The close scrutiny to which Spain and Italy are being subjected leaves little room for surprises. All the alarms get restless, though, when core Europe somehow stumbles. And Germany has for some quarters now been bitten here and there by the decay surrounding it…
There is no denying that the talk of an eventual Spanish national rescue by euro funds has now become a feature in any serious discussion about what’s next for the global economy. Even though always ready to confront but not conform to the most realistic conclusion market analysts find for Spain, the country’s president Mariano Rajoy admitted last week that a complete bailout appears on the table next to all…
Moody’s investors service said Thursday it had changed to negative the outlooks of 17 German banking groups and several subsidiaries. The decision affected their long-term debt and deposit ratings or their long-term guaranteed debt obligations, whose ratings incorporate support from the German government or several German federal states or municipalities. Moody’s explained the update of outlooks was the consequence of German sovereign and sub-sovereign ratings having been graded to negative from…
MADRID | Irritation is high in Madrid for partners’ lack of support in enforcing a curfew, let alone a truce, in the raging battle it holds against overwhelming market forces. As leaders go on holiday they leave Spanish assets exposed to utter onslaught. The massive sell-out of sovereigns, securities and shares cannot continue for long without throttling any chance of survival by the time Brussels returns to normal business. Desperate attempts…
While waiting for the changes the European rescue fund needs to introduce in order to recapitalise the banking sector directly, especially the Spanish one, JP Morgan’s global equity department has made an interesting answer-question list with the main doubts that everybody could have concerning this instrument. The starting point could be the role of the European Financial Stability Facility /European Stability Mechanism until the last European Summit. Up to that…
MADRID | One-off cuts and further squeezing measures have been taken in a desperate attempt to avoid budgetary discomfiture. By mid-term central government deficit had already attained its full year target, not to mention a regional and local performance no one knows for sure where it stands. A drastic brake to such blatant slippery became an unavoidable option. The markets and Brussels have done the rest. Free-running risk premium has not…
By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | As the year advances, it seems to confirm that the EU economies of emerging Europe are moving at two speeds, as is also the case of the European Union as a whole. Focusing on the five countries we usually review in this report (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic), the first two are keeping up a slightly faster pace in activity…
LONDON | Germany's imports have kept growing year on year at a moderate pace, with a 2.9 percent increase recorded in May. So have its exports, too. The latest data confirm the German economy as the healthiest core of the euro zone, with an accumulated trade surplus of €73.8 billion in that month, up from the €62.9-billion surplus in the same period of time in 2011. Export activity, indeed, has…