Rodrigo Orihuela

@rorihuela.bsky.social

Bloomberg bureau chief @ Madrid. Patagónico.

From a client presentation hosted by JPM analyst Michael Cemblast and quoted by BBG “ People are being held accountable for their views and the things they say in ways that they probably shouldn’t be. So I’ve said most of what I wanted to say on this call-but not all of it.”

A quick note on Trump's new tariff plan. It's 10 percent across the board, 125 percent (!) on China. What's the effective tariff rate? Well, China was 13 percent of imports in 2024, so you might say .13*125+.87*10 = 24.95. But imports from China will fall, so how do we adjust it? 1/

Two ironies from yesterday for a country like Vietnam, which has a 90-day reprieve from a 46% rate, down to 10%. It has been under US pressure over diversion of Chinese goods via Vietnam. But (mutatis mutandis) 125% on China, 10% on Vietnam might raise the incentive even more.

4. During this pause, the United States will still have the highest tariffs in the industrialized world, perhaps 10-20 times that of most of our trading partners, and roughly ten times higher than it was before. These are still at or above the Depression era Smoot-Hawley tariffs

3. The rationale for this policy keeps changing. Remember when it was all about bringing manufacturing home? (That was yesterday.) Now it's negotiating deals. Those are fundamentally in tension. (I'm only going to build a factory in the US if tariffs are likely to persist.)

Biggest mistakes I'm seeing in early reporting (thread): 1. Tariffmageddon isn't over: Lotsa tariffs to account for, but the average tariff rate is only down around one quarter. So most of the pain of Liberation Day is still with us.

Congratulations to @mpaulmcnamara.bsky.social, the Methuselah of markets. Frankly it was borderline cruelty to keep him working so long beyond the natural lifespan of most humans. I’m glad he’ll now have time to enjoy his beloved Tottenham Hotspurs more often. www.gam.com/en/news-arti...

GAM and Gramercy enter into Strategic Partnership for Emerging Market Debt Strategies

We are one of the world’s leading independent, pure-play asset managers.

gam.com

European reporting: ABB: new buyback, strong order book ROCHE: in-line, mid single digit growth outlook SANOFI: in-line, launches €5bn buyback NOKIA: beat on sales & operating profit ST MICRO: in-line sales, margin misses, demand sluggish for industrial & automotive semis BBVA: beat & €1bn buyback

Real Madrid. Floorentino Pérez says it's worth 10b euros and he wants to hand over ownership over to club members (aka season ticket holding fans). Wonder what that switch from being a season ticket holder to being a shareholder will look like for people's income tax come year's end.

Santander wants to play big in US investment banking. Some numbers : 1) No. of material risk takers earnings >€1m more than 2x in three years 2) 110 leveraged loan deals in the US in 2024 vs 21 in 2023 3) IB staff in the US was 900 in 2023, 1,300 this year. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Botin’s Costly Credit Suisse Hiring Spree Is Reshaping Santander

Banco Santander's biggest push yet to expand on Wall Street is starting to lift revenue and transform the retail lender

bloomberg.com

I don’t think most people (present company excluded) fully appreciate how much X had changed journalistic output, and in turn wider public discourse. And I don’t so much only mean the last two years as the whole decade-plus it has existed.

If you asked 20 years ago who winners of digital shift would be, I think most people would have opted for tabloids. Instead you have FT, WSJ, NYT with highest ever circulations and tabloids basically dying