France announces new regional lockdowns February 26, 2021 The French government has placed Dunkirk and Nice under weekend lockdowns, and Paris may soon follow suit. French health minister Olivier Véran announced on Wednesday a new lockdown in the city of Dunkirk and the Hauts de Flandres region for the next to weekends. The decision was made alongside local officials due to the “worrying [...]
European bank giants plot payment network to rival Visa and Mastercard February 24, 2021 Members of the European Payments Initiative (EPI), a project launched with the help of 22 banks, said today that a pan-European payment network can be in place by 2025, making the continent “master of its own destiny.” The 22 banks, which include names such as Deutsche Bank, UniCredit and ING, are shareholders in the EPI [...]
Eurozone GDP fell as lockdown restrictions tightened ahead of Christmas February 16, 2021 Eurozone GDP fell as lockdown restrictions tightened ahead of CHristmas
EU faces surge in bankruptcies as states start to withdraw pandemic support February 11, 2021 A leaked document from the European Union has revealed that a spike in bankruptcies and bad loans awaits the European Commission during the bloc’s post-pandemic economic recovery, as states begin to withdraw public support schemes. The note, seen by Reuters, said that it has taken nearly €2.3 trillion in national liquidity support to prevent a [...]
Slow vaccine rollouts cause eurozone investor morale to slip February 8, 2021 Investor morale in the eurozone unexpectedly dropped in February as lockdowns left their mark on the economy, a survey showed on Monday. Attempts to suppress Covid-19 left the eurozone trailing behind other regions in the world, as countries such as the USA showed a strong recovery. Sentix, who surveyed more than 1,250 investors, said that [...]
Italy Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to resign tomorrow, as his coalition crumbles January 25, 2021 Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will hand in his resignation to the head of state tomorrow morning after a cabinet meeting to inform his ministers, Conte’s office said. The prime minister, who has been in office since June 2018, hopes President Sergio Mattarella will give him a mandate to form a new government with broader backing in parliament, [...]
Eurozone business activity shrinks sharply in January as lockdowns batter services January 22, 2021 Economic activity in the eurozone has plummeted in January as lockdown measures hit the bloc’s dominant service industry, a survey showed today. IHS Markit’s guide to economic health fell further below the 50 mark to 47.5 in January, a further dip from December’s 49.1. Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, believes a double-dip [...]
Best of 2020: Europe hurtles into decline, almost unnoticed December 21, 2020 As the year winds down, Morning Wire is looking back at the columns that tell the story of our year. For a Europe that has made managing rather than solving economic crises into an art form, the time for paying the piper is fast approaching. The continent’s long-stagnating economy is perched at the edge of [...]
Eurozone investor sentiment soars amid vaccine optimism December 7, 2020 Positive vaccine news has made Eurozone investors vastly more cheery, with a closely watched sentiment index hitting its highest level since February. The Sentix Eurozone investor sentiment index jumped to minus 2.7 in December from minus 10 in November, the data company said today. Driving the surge was a sharp recovery in investors’ views of [...]
ECB says banks still vulnerable to corporate coronavirus debt November 25, 2020 The Eurozone’s banks are likely to have to put aside more cash to pay for loan losses as the recovery from the coronavirus crisis enters a new stage, the European Central Bank (ECB) has said. “Bank profitability is expected to remain weak. Provisions have increased but look optimistic in some cases,” said Luis de Guindos, [...]