The Euro Crisis – Spanish panic
THINGS are rapidly getting worse in Spain. Bond yields have risen to over 7.5% today, on the back of a shaky government debt auction last Thursday, and the failure of one of its regions (Valencia) that now needs help from Madrid. In line with this bad news on the state of the government coffers, the cost of buying an insurance policy against Spanish default (credit default swap premia) is up, and is increasingly diverging from Italy’s (see chart). Investors’ views of Spanish companies are just as gloomy as of its government finances. The Spanish stock-market—the IBEX 35—is down 30% this year, as any expectations that company profits will lead to decent dividends anytime soon are thin on the ground. Things could get worse as the week progresses, particularly if preliminary measures of output to be released tomorrow are weak.
USA Today – Spain unemployment edges up to 24.6%
The number of people out of work in Spain shows no sign of dropping, with almost one in four people unemployed and half of those under the age of 25 out of work, the National Statistics Institute said Friday. The recession-hit country’s unemployment rate rose 0.19 percentage points in the second quarter on the previous three months to 24.63%, the institute said. The rate is the highest among the 17 nations using the euro currency. The institute said 53,500 people more joined the ranks of the unemployed between April and June, making for a total of 5.69 million people out of work.For those under 25 years of age, the unemployment rate climbed to 53%, up from 52% in the previous quarter. Spain is battling to avoid having to seek a full-blown financial bailout as it struggles to emerge from its second recession in three years and strives to convince investors it can manage its finances.
Source: Bianco Research
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Max Konzelman
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