Spain is in talks with sovereign wealth funds from several Gulf countries on them co-investing in projects financed by European aid in order to leverage the initial investment, Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said on Wednesday.
South Africa's rand weakened early on Wednesday after a sharp fall in the previous session as global risk demand retreated and some investors took profits on the local currency's recent rally.
The COVID pandemic has added $24 trillion to the global debt mountain over the last year a new study has shown, leaving it at a record $281 trillion and the worldwide debt-to-GDP ratio at over 355%.
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LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Mario Draghi’s appointment as Italy’s prime minister will provide a big boost to the country’s financial markets, Morgan Stanley said on Wednesday, predicting a major improvement in the country’s closely-watched bond spreads and a double-digit outperformance by its stock market.
Draghi, a former European Central Bank chief feted in Italian media as a national saviour, promised sweeping reforms to help rebuild Italy in a speech to the Senate on Wednesday ahead of a mandatory confidence vote in his government of national unity.
Morgan Stanley said the halo effect would narrow the BTP bond spread - the premium investors demand to hold Italian government bonds rather than AAA-rated German debt - to 85 basis points by June from its current 90 bps spread. In an optimistic case, it could fall to 55 bps before the end of the year.