The US interest rates have risen steadily and significantly, galvanised by the Federal Reserve’s rapid and aggressive monetary tightening policies. However, this does not necessarily mean that US bonds are more attractive than their European counterparts. A key factor in the comparison is the exchange rate.
Search results
The energy crisis has served as an incentive within the EU to accelerate the transition to energy sources that are more environmentally friendly and less dependent on fossil fuels, but this is seen as more of a medium-term goal.
Spain is the country where net wealth has increased the most since the pandemic: from Q4 2019 to Q3 2023 there was a significant increase of 25%, followed closely by Germany with 22%, France with 16% and, further behind, Italy with 6.0%.
Compared with its main rivals, Spain is automated to a similar degree but its level is not improving fast enough to catch up with the leading economies.
In this first article in a series of two, we review the recent trends in capital investment in Spain and make a comparison with the rest of the euro area. In a second article in this same Monthly Report, we investigate the incentives for investing, based on an analysis of the evolution of profitability and the cost of financing, sector by sector.
This year, the ECB will not only continue to raise interest rates, but it will also reduce the size of its balance sheet. How will this reduction work and what consequences could it have for sovereign debt?
Owning a second home is a widespread practice in Spain. In fact, second homes make up 14.6% of all Spanish housing, this figure exceeding 30% in some provinces. Where are these second homes located? What kind of household owns them? Understanding their distribution throughout Spain in relation to the usual place of residence is of great help in analysing the behaviour of the real estate market at a local level. Once again, we can use big data techniques to process the information and identify more complex dynamics than with traditional methods.
Spain’s agrifood sector continues to show significant strength and has consolidated its role as the country’s leading driver of exports, thanks to an environment with contained price increases and a recovery in demand. Spain has become the EU’s fourth biggest exporting power and the eighth in the world, with a 3.4% share of the global market. In addition, it has recorded almost three decades of trade surpluses, equivalent to 1.2% of GDP in 2024. Despite the complex international environment, marked by geopolitical tensions and protectionism, the growth of agrifood exports in the first half of 2025, both in volume and in value, hints at a good year for the sector.