Thursday, February 05, 2009

YOUR DAILY DOSE of Spain's economy bad news, and this time it's double. One:
Spanish provisional industrial production plunged 19.6% in December on a calendar-adjusted basis against a year ago, compared to a 15.3% fall in November. Output of consumer goods fell 10.8% against a 9.3% fall in November and intermediate goods output fell 33.6% and energy production fell 3.4%. The fall in industrial production is reportedly the worst in more than 15 years.
Two:
Spanish debt defaults leapt 197 percent in 2008 with construction and property firms accounting for 4 of every 10 failures as the credit crunch coincided with the end of Spain's housing boom, data showed on Thursday.