Author: Catalina Parada

Spain asked the Eurozone for a bailout of up to €100-billion to rescue its banks.  This is just a short-term fix for the troubled Eurozone because it doesn’t address the underlying problems in the monetary union.  The earlier bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal didn’t resolve the problems either.  “The Spanish banking bailout is big […]

The unemployment rate in Germany declined more than predicted in December as car and machinery exports boomed and one of the mildest winters on record helped construction jobs. The number of jobless people declined a seasonally adjusted 22,000 to 2.89 million, according to the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency.  Economists had forecast a decline of 10,000.  The […]

Standard & Poor’s slashed Spain’s credit rating to AA-, three steps beneath the highly desirable AAA, underscoring the challenges facing Europe’s major powers as they meet G20 counterparts over the eurozone debt crisis.  S&P, whose move mirrored that by fellow ratings agency Fitch, cited high unemployment, tightening credit and high private-sector debt.  Spanish 10-year government […]