“Super Mario” does it again: stock markets applaud the decisions of the ECB – An “audacious” move, the ECB initiative to shore up the national debt of weakened European economies that Mario Draghi announced on September 16. That is how the plan was described by the foreign press (Financial Times – Mario Draghi’s audacious gamble*) the day after the decision by the former Governor of the Bank of Italy, the man who overcame the resistance of German bankers. (The Guardian – How Draghi won battle with German central bankers). Applause came not only from the markets, which rose both before and after Draghi’s announcement (Le Figaro – «Super Mario» applaudi par les marchés), but also from opinion pages worldwide. For El Pais (El ‘game changer’), the Italian economist is a man who can changes the rules of the European Union, while for Les Echos, quoting economist Axa Eric Chaney, the ECB’s move is a personal victory for Draghi. The Spanish paper ABC underlined in addition that the president of the ECB did not disappoint, lessening the pressure on the Spanish debt. (Draghi no decepciona al mercado: la prima cae 50 puntos y la Bolsa se dispara casi un 5%).
Meanwhile the bank’s moves garnered interested outside Europe as well. The Washington Post spoke of a bazooka to purchase bonds, while Time revived the nickname “Super Mario” (‘Super Mario’ Rides to the Euro’s Rescue). Draghi’s “aggressive” plan (Businessweek – ECB unveils aggressive bond plan to save euro) was also reported on in China (The China Post – Draghi unveils fresh euro bailout package) and the United Emirates (Gulf News – Draghi gets support for bond plan).
Campari and Vespa: Italian style travels the world – Market trends and sovereign debt cannot stop the expansion plans of Italian companies. Campari, the multinational spirits giant, has a new acquisition worth over 400 million dollars (Valor Economico, September 3 – Campari compra fabricante de rum Lascelles por US$ 417 milhões), spreading its range of products, from aperitifs to rum as the Argentinean daily La Nacion explains (September 3 – De los aperitivos al ron*). Its takeover of the Jamaican company Lascelle de Mercada was also observed by the French press, where Les Echos underlined the Italian group’s interest in accelerating on the American market (September 4 – Campari casse sa tirelire pour accélérer en Amérique).
Vespa too is acelerating, but on the Indian market. The Times of Indian reported the declaration of Piaggio Roberto Colaninno, where the businessman from Mantua explained that the Italian group is planning to create a new luxury niche in the scooter sector (September 5 – ‘With Vespa, we created new luxury segment in scooter’*).
A new generation of artists – Last week’s articles on culture were dedicate to young people. The Brazilian Folha de S. Paulo interviewed Massimiliano Gioni, curator of the Venice Biennial (4 settembre – Veneza terá ‘ histeria’ de umanova geração*) who states that he wants to give the exposition a new prospective. The Wall Street Journal on the other hand ran a piece on “Il Volo”, a trio of young Italian singers of operatic pop, now touring the US.
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