Spain

World economy 3rd May 2012

Thursday’s graphs: Spanish energy consumption shows recovery

Energy consumption in Spain during the past four weeks brought gas demand back to positive figures and stopped further falls in electricity. Red Eléctrica and Enagás released electricity and gas demand data in April and analysts in the financial City of Madrid welcomed the better-than expected news. Electricity demand was slightly on the recovery path with a -0.9 percent and a -1.8 percent annually accumulated decrease. As for electricity generated…

In Europe 2nd May 2012

Fitch: above-sovereign graded Spanish, Italian regions record stable performance

LONDON | Those regions in Spain and Italy awarded better risk qualifications than their countries as a whole have overcome the latest turmoil in the euro zone without difficulties. Fitch Ratings issued Wednesday a positive comment on the Italian and Spanish subnationals rated above the sovereign. The agency said that their debt and debt service coverage ratios with the operating balance have largely remained in line with those of similarly…

Companies 1st May 2012

Inditex’ Uterqüe goes online in Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria

The Spanish Inditex Group reported that its newest retailer launched uterque.com, an online store to shoppers in Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria. These three markets add to six more online operations active in European countries. The new online shops went live in April and, as is customary, they offer the same range of merchandise as that found in high street stores, along with the same policy on returns and exchanges….

Markets 1st May 2012

Skandia’s Gillham: “Downgrading devil is in the Spanish bank funding detail”

LONDON | The worsening of Spain’s debt risk grades will have grave implications, whether market participants believe the situation in which the country’s public finances are is reversible or not. Portfolio manager at Skandia Investment Group’s fixed income funds and researcher, Anthony Gillham distrusts talk of priced-in negative events. Although last Friday’s announcement by Standard and Poors that Spain is to be downgraded by two notches from A to BBB+ was…

Spanish economy 1st May 2012

Almost all Spaniards are now poorer

By Carlos Díaz Guell, in Madrid | In Spain, households’ financial assets fell by 3.5% in 2011 due to a downturn in acquisition activity and especially market declines recorded in the third quarter of last year after the deterioration of the sovereign crisis. This is compounded by the collapse of housing prices, which caused housing sector wealth to fall by 6.6% dragging total net wealth down 51 percentage points of GDP. In 2011 it also was reported a change in the composition of household savings with a fall not seen…

Spanish economy 1st May 2012

Sweeping U-turns undermine Madrid’s credibility

MADRID | No one expects incoming governments to keep promises entered while campaigning to cajole voters. But Rajoy’s performance does merit a place in the Guinness record book. Didn’t he adamantly bind himself never to facilitate lay-offs? Didn’t he commit himself never to increase taxes? People can understand he may break pledges when confronted with a dismal economic scenario. But they have good reasons to feel frustrated at the hectic way…

Spanish economy 30th April 2012

Spain contracts but recovers faster than any other euro country

MADRID | After the national office for statistics in Spain confirmed everyone’s suspicions about the country returning to recession, with a -0.3% economic contraction versus expectations of -0.4% , a note from BBVA research team on Spain’s strengths could come handy as a reminder that the #spanic would be still avoidable and this Espan-hole could be safely closed. BBVA analysts explained in its monthly report aptly headlined ‘Leaving stereotypes behind‘ that…

aggregation line 28th April 2012

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. France isn’t talking about its economy The digital revolution, mind the bit Why Argentina’s president is wrong Everyone talks about Spain… …And many don’t know really what they are saying Democracy and the euro Hollande…

In Europe 27th April 2012

What the euro zone needs: productivity, competitiveness …and patience

By LaCaixa Research Team, in Barcelona | In the years prior to the recession that started in the last decade, in many countries the gradually increasing debt of the private sector allowed for much more intensive economic growth than would have been seen without it. The abrupt appearance of the crisis frustrated this expansion and revealed an excessive level of debt. This debt is now a heavy burden that can counteract…

Markets 27th April 2012

S&P, Pain, Spain, Spanic

The housing bubble, like the turbid monster of an old movie, blows in time and again. Didn’t Spain’s president Mariano Rajoy see it coming? Standard & Poor’s Rating Services might have opened his eyes when it lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating. The Kingdom of Spain woke up on Friday under the ‘BBB+’ tag from the previous ‘A’. The risk agency did not just cut down the short-term sovereign credit rating to…

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