MADRID | The US market once again knocked on the doors of the Spanish railway equipment manufacturer CAF. The company, based in Guipuzcoa (Basque Country) will supply trains for the rail project in the city of Cincinnati, in the State of Ohio. In an initial phase, the company will manufacture a small number of vehicles, which it will also keep updated. So far, CAF has been chosen as preferred supplier and will now negotiate…
MADRID | The new team in power in Spain never thought they could one day being mercilessly mauled by markets as the previous government was. Spanish Conservatism was supposed to stand as a safe harbour in a euro zone vastly dominated by fellow political parties. Swift implementation of sweeping reforms, coupled with an extremely tight budget, was expected to act as a powerful lever to winch up ailing credibility. And yet, Madrid…
NEW YORK | A big amount of pain in the Spanish economy could have been avoided. But the Germany authorities chose not to. This is pretty much the line of thought that The New York Times has been sharing with its public for months. So far, the excessive “German-led mismanagement of the euro-zone crisis” has been the focus of as many op-eds as the war in Afghanistan or the US healthcare…
Too true. Undeniably, this was the frightening scene on Friday, which heated the discussion about what’s next for the Kingdom of Spain, with even some Greek bouzouki music on the background. But. Analysts at Sabadell Bolsa reminded the markets of a few facts, probably compelled by the amount of fog gathered during the last days over the state of the Spanish finances and its economic prospects. Although acknowledging that domestic imbalances…
MADRID | Analysts at Barclays in Spain felt so shocked by how little knowledge some market participants can display about the actual situation of the Spanish economy, that decided to act. Why Spain does so poorly compared to the rest of Europe? Well, does it? This is the quick note they wrote on Friday aimed at lending a hand to “some brokers and fund managers, mostly foreign, [who] seem to…
MADRID | Berlin is utterly bewildered, according to official sources, by the clumsy way Madrid is running its current crisis. A high ranking government representative stunned his German counterparts by openly declaring that Spain would be ready to find its way out of the euro if that was the prize to avoid intervention. He wasn’t bluffing. On Monday this week he presented PM Rajoy and ministers in charge of economic matters…
His words appeared today scattered everywhere accompanied by odd yet expressive pictures, undoubtedly making for fitting material in the euro peripheral saga. He would have reaffirmed a commitment to abide by a deficit target that was negotiated rather than agreed with the European Commission, most accounts tell us, and scolded some his outspoken neighbours in a tit-for-tat monologue. Since Spain’s president Mariano Rajoy talked on Wednesday to his People’s Party parlamentary group,…
NEW YORK | As the European Central Bank signaled it may resume asset purchases if needed to stem the crisis, the yield on Spanish 10-year bonds slid to 5.82%. Notwithstanding the last few days Spanish bonds went under the unwanted spotlight: yields on the 10 years bonds rose to nearly 6% on Tuesday, the highest since January. In less than two months, Spain’s interest rate has risen about one point….
MADRID | According to Alberto Vigil, analyst at Barclays in Madrid, the peripheral euro risk and particularly Spain’s has been exaggerated by the markets, which would be discounting an economic situation perceived as poor and with a very limited range of choices. Yet, Vigil maintained an optimistic opinion and said investors will reconsider their position when reviewing the strengths of the country. “Spain could have done its reforms much better, but…
MADRID | People at command in Madrid seem baffled by the massive onslaught inflicted on the economy. A steeply rising risk premium coupled with the severe battering the stock market is receiving have dampened any hope to steer out of trouble with minor collateral damage. The dream of a soft landing has switched into the nightmare of plausible intervention. Fear to fall in that abyss has materialised in a rather hectic…