Trader’s Narrative

Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (Spanish Exchanges and Markets) debuted today in the Spanish stock market. BME is the holding company for the individual stock exchanges, settlement, clearing and counterparty, the futures and derivatives market, as well data dissemination and the technology that drives the Spanish financial markets. Basically the whole enchilada.
It’s IPO follow in the […]

As you’ve probably seen on your filters, Escala (ESCL) has been crashing for the past few consecutive days. The shares gapped down hard on Tuesday and continued to sell off the Spanish authorities raided the offices of Afinsa and shut them down by declaring them insolvent.
The anti-corruption prosecutor has arrested 9 owners/executives of Afinsa. It […]

This week, Barron’s did a cover story on companies that build and operate public highways.
Although toll roads are relatively few and far in between to North America, they are a normal feature of the landscape in Europe and Australia. That would explain why all the companies discussed in Barron’s article are from outside North […]

The last time I was in Europe visiting family, I noticed a new chain of shoe stores going by the name of Geox, had popped up everywhere - seemingly overnight. I went into one and snooped around to see what I could learn. All their shoes featured a new ‘innovative’ design shamelessly swiped from hobos: […]

This weekend, Barron’s had a small followup to the Afinsa/Escala story they first broke last year. If you missed it, Afinsa is a company in Spain that markets an investment scheme where the investor can buy stamps which are guaranteed by Afinsa to appreciate in value (from 6% to 10% p.a.). The problem is […]