Business News & Financial News

In Spain 28th July 2026

Unemployment falls below 10%, but Spain still carries 2.5 million unemployed people

The Labour Force Survey (EPA) for the second quarter of 2026 confirms that unemployment continues to fall. The unemployment rate stood at 9.87%, nearly a percentage point lower than in the previous quarter (-0.96 points) and its lowest level since 2008. The number of unemployed people fell by 213,300, down to 2,495,300: a decline of 0.37% in seasonally adjusted terms and by 57,800 people over the past year. Employment is…

In Europe 28th July 2026

European banking sector resilient despite complex geopolitical landscape says Scope Ratings

The cost of risk could rise by 10 basis points in 2026 compared with 2025, reflecting increased geopolitical risks and macroeconomic uncertainty, although provisions will remain low overall. Scope Ratings Analysis European banks are profitable, well-capitalised and have sound balance sheets. Our outlook is positive, although we are closely monitoring the knock-on effects of the war in the Middle East, the risk of stagflation, merger and acquisition activity, interest rate…

In the World, Markets 28th July 2026

Bleak day for Kospi, on verge of trading halt amid fears of excessive investment in AI

Report by Renta 4 European markets opened lower (Eurostoxx futures down 0.02 per cent, S&P down 0.25 per cent, Nasdaq down 0.8 per cent), following a session that started strong but ended weakly in the US and a black day on the Kospi (down 9%), which hit its lowest level since mid-April and triggered the sidecar and trading halt mechanisms at the start of the session. This fall has been…

rosa garcia consejera caixabank acerinox ence

“Many companies complicate CSRD implementation more than necessary”

Rosa Mª García Piñeiro, board member at Caixabank, Acerinox, and Ence—serving as chair of the sustainability committee for the latter two and as a committee member at Caixabank—explains that “the directive does not set the materiality threshold. The company decides it based on its own criteria. There is nothing in the legislation that prescribes what is material and what is not. The auditor-verifier may have one opinion, the company may…

“We are one of Europe’s leading R&D investors: €1.45 billion last year”

“We need to approach negotiations with the U.S. on terms that are completely different from those currently being proposed”

Says Antonio Bonet, president of the Club of Spanish Exporters and Investors. He points out that “Europe has a single tariff applied by all member states, but the U.S. applies a tariff to each country, meaning it can decide that the tariff applied to Spanish black olives is higher than that for Italian olives, as it did at one point. So there is a part of the negotiation between Europe…

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