Financial Insights That Matter Germany’s parliament has passed a historic spending bill enabling the government to finance hundreds of billions of euros in defence and infrastructure. The passage marks a major fiscal shift for a country long constrained by spending austerity under the so-called ‘debt brake’ introduced in 2009. While investors remain broadly optimistic about […]
Financial Insights That Matter (Reuters) – Spain’s economy outperformed other major euro zone countries in 2024, data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Wednesday, confirming a contrast with euro zone peers. Spain’s gross domestic product grew 3.2% in 2024, a much faster rate than France and Italy’s close-to-1% expansion and Germany’s economic contraction […]
Financial Insights That Matter By Maria Martinez BERLIN (Reuters) -German business morale rose in March, a survey showed on Tuesday, as companies expect a recovery after two years of contraction in Europe’s largest economy. The Ifo institute said its business climate index stood at 86.7 in March from 85.3 in February, in line with the […]
Financial Insights That Matter Europe’s economic engine might finally be shifting into gear, as a rebound in German manufacturing and easing price pressures across the euro area offered a glimmer of hope that the continent’s economy could be turning a corner. The latest business surveys, known as Purchasing Managers’ Indexes (PMIs), revealed that the eurozone’s […]
Financial Insights That Matter (Bloomberg) — Germany’s Finance Agency confirmed it will sell €92.5 billion ($100 billion) in federal government debt in the second quarter, and announced plans to reintroduce sales of seven-year bonds in the second half of the year. Most Read from Bloomberg The Frankfurt-based agency will issue €62.5 billion in bonds and […]
Financial Insights That Matter A summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday ― where Germany was represented by outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz because the next governing coalition has yet to be formed ― didn’t delve into the topic, with the focus firmly on how to build up the continent’s defense capabilities. But the issue […]
Financial Insights That Matter Unsurprisingly, traditional fiscal hawks — many of whom had long been Berlin’s closest allies on economic matters — immediately viewed the move with suspicion. Increasing debt means bigger interest rates and for many countries the risk is “a lose-lose game,” one diplomat said. “We spend more, we pay more.” A Spanish […]
Financial Insights That Matter It took just a few hours for Friedrich Merz to conduct one of the sharpest U-turns in recent political history. At lunchtime last Friday, Germany’s chancellor-to-be received a sobering briefing on the state of the economy from finance minister Jörg Kukies. Kukies explained that after two years of stagnation and with […]
Financial Insights That Matter By Chibuike Oguh, Lucy Raitano NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -The U.S. dollar rose against most major currencies including the Swiss franc and the euro on Thursday, as investors consolidated positions after selling the greenback for most of this week, but the outlook remained weak amid concerns about slowing growth arising from the […]
Financial Insights That Matter (Bloomberg) — Germany’s new era of big spending is pulling up borrowing costs across Europe, reigniting jitters around fiscal stability on the continent’s periphery. Most Read from Bloomberg Yields on benchmark Italian, Greek, Spanish and Portuguese bonds are over 30 basis points higher compared to the start of the month. The […]