A few months ago I discovered an excellent channel on YouTube called Free Documentary. The following video is a superb presentation on bridge engineering. It covers three bridges in France – the Pont du Gard, the viaduct of Garabit and the viaduct of Millau. The Pont du Gard is an amazing viaduct built by the Romans in 40-60 A.D. that still stands today. The Garabit viaduct was built by Gustave Eiffel, the builder of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Source: YouTube
The top banks in Italy based on assets in 2021 are shown in the chart below. Intesa(ISNPY) is the Italian largest bank followed by UniCredit(UNCRY). Compared to these banks, the rest of the major banks have assets of under 200 billion Euros.
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Data Source: FactSet
Source: Italy Seeks to Ease Mergers, WSJ, May 25, 2021
The Top Italian banks based on market capitalization as of Jan, 2021 are shown in the chart below:
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Source: Statista
Related:
Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe. For global investors it is wise to be aware of the major countries Germany trades with and also the types of goods Germany exports and imports. With that said, Germany’s major trading partners in 2020 are shown in the chart below. The US was the largest export market for Germany followed by China. The rest of the major export markets are European countries. China is the top country for German imports in 2020.
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Source: Destatis
The top trading goods of Germany in 2020 are shown in the following chart. The top product that Germany exports is motor vehicles followed by machinery and chemicals.
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Source: Destatis
Most US bank stocks are up by double digit percentage points so far this year. The benchmark KBW Bank Index for example has soared by about 34% YTD. With economic recovery forecast to accelerate this year, investors are betting banks stand to gain the most from the upsurge in economic activity.
Many of the foreign banks are also performing very well this year. For instance, the majority of European lenders are in the positive. However some of the foreign banks are in the red as shown in the table below:
| S.No. | Bank Name | Ticker | Stock Price (as of Mar 25, 2021) | Year-to-date Change(%) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Banco BBVA Argentina S.A. | BBAR | $2.95 | -8.10% | Argentina |
| 2 | Banco Bradesco | BBD | $4.77 | -9.32% | Brazil |
| 3 | Banco de Chile | BCH | $18.70 | -8.24% | Chile |
| 4 | Banco Macro | BMA | $14.58 | -6.36% | Argentina |
| 5 | Banco Santander Brasil | BSBR | $7.59 | -12.15% | Brazil |
| 6 | Bancolombia | CIB | $29.16 | -27.43% | Colombia |
| 7 | Credit Suisse | CS | $10.78 | -15.78% | Switzerland |
| 8 | Grupo Financiero Galicia | GGAL | $8.10 | -7.32% | Argentina |
| 9 | Itau Corpbanca | ITCB | $4.36 | -11.92% | Chile |
| 10 | Itau Unibanco | ITUB | $5.37 | -11.82% | Brazil |
Source: BNY Mellon
Political issues in Chile and Colombia have hit the equity markets in those countries hard. Chileans strongly rejected conservatives led by President Sebastian and favored a leftist progressive coalition that plans to erase the neo-liberal economic policies first put forth by the late military dictator Augusto Pinochet. The ongoing protests against the government of Iván Duque has led to credit downgrades and has also adversely impacted equities.
Except Credit Suisse(CS), all the stocks listed above are from Latin America. Long-term investors with the ability to withstand strong volatility can consider some of these stocks at current levels. Banks from Argentina such as Banco Macro(BMA) can be avoided.
Disclosure: Long NCH, BBD, ITUB and ITCB
Wage growth for the average workers in the US has been artificially suppressed over the past few decades due to a variety of reasons. However worker productivity has continued to rise year after year. According to EPI, the average worker would be earning $10 more per hour if wage growth kept up with productivity. Since the late 1970s, the wage growth has been unequal between worker categories thru 2019.
For the bottom workforce category wages have increased 26%. But for the top 1% wages have increased by 160% during the same period as shown in the chart below.
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Source: EPI