US TRUST AND WEIDMANN PUSH UP THE PRICE LISTS
HI TECH DUEL ON WALL STREET. CTZ AUCTION IN MILAN
The serene returns to the Bags thanks to the fuel of consumer confidence, which jumped yesterday to a six-year high. The bulletin signals increases on all markets.
A Tokyo this morning the Nikkei index advanced by a quarter of a point, bettering Hong Kong and Sydney, up by 1%. The exception is Shanghai -0,14% but a Morgan Stanley report indicates that prices, after the recent declines, are returning to interest.
Avanza Wall Streetdespite the Case Shiller Index registering a slowdown in new home sales. The Dow Jones index closed at +0,56%, S&P 500 +0,45% and the Nasdaq rose by 0,19%.
The European Stock Exchanges, thanks to the overtures of Bundesbank president Jens Weidmannfears about the Chinese economy and tensions in Ukraine have been left behind to recover part of the ground lost on the eve. The London Stock Exchange marks an increase of 1,2%, Paris +1,5% and Frankfurt +1,6%
A Business Square the Ftse Mib gained 0,95%.
LA BUBA OPENS TO QE, THE EURO BRAKES
The upward turn of the European lists coincided yesterday with the publication of a sensational interview by Jens Weidmann. The president of the Bundesbank opened up, surprisingly, to the hypothesis of a European quantitative easing to counter the threat of excessive appreciation of the euro, heralding deflation. The ECB, in his opinion, could also, for the same reason, bring rates down into negative territory. The president of the ECB, Mario DraghiMeanwhile, he said yesterday that the Eurotower remains "ready to act" to maintain price stability and that interest rates will remain at current levels or even lower for an extended period of time.
Europe expands, the US is proceeding in the opposite direction. Interest rates will reach 3% by the end of 2016. This was stated in an interview with CNBC by the governor of the Philadelphia Fed, Charles Plosser. For the end of 2015, he added the average of my colleagues at the Fed has softer expectations ”. At the end of the day the euro fell down to 1,379 from 1,383 against the dollar. Trade in Asia this morning at 1,3809.
TREASURY AUCTIONS, WE START AGAIN. VISCO: MORE INTEREST IN OUR SHARES
All projects eve of the month-end auctions the governor of the Bank of Italy Ignazio Visco he stressed yesterday "that investor confidence in our country can be suddenly called into question by government actions that do not guarantee debt sustainability". For now, however, underlined Visco "renewed signs of interest are emerging for the Italian markets, including that of government bonds, which are reflected in a decline in the debt position of the Bank of Italy in the Target2 system: at the end of February this was dropped to 190 billion euro, almost 100 less than the peak reached in August 2012”.
Today the Ctz are going up for auction (2-2,5 billion). The expectation is for good demand, especially from abroad, and a yield in line with last month's auction: around or just above the historic low of 0,82%. Tomorrow it's the turn of the 6-month BTPs (7,5 billion).
Finally, on Friday, Ccteu, 5 and 10-year BTPs will go to auction for a total amount between 7,5 and 10 billion. Meanwhile, yesterday the yield on BTPs fell to 3,39% (against the previous 3,41%).
FACEBOOK RESPONDS TO GOOGLE-LUXOTTICA
Great excitement on the front of technology stocks. Last night Facebook has announced the purchase of Oculus, a leader in immersive virtual reality, for $2 billion, thus reacting in real time to the alliance between Google and Luxottica. Among the Oculus products stands out a suit that allows the player who wears it to experience the sensation of being on a playing field. “The moile – said Zuckerberg – is the platform of the present. We are gearing up for tomorrow's one”.
But the focus is today on Wall Street debut of King Digital, the English start-up that created Candy Crush, the most popular digital game. Shares worth $500 million were placed yesterday, thus setting the company's value at $7 billion.
Over the past 12 months, IPOs in the US have raised 31,2 billion dollars, 79% more than the previous year. Waiting for Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, estimated value of 120 billion.
LUXOTTICA, SUPERSTAR AT PIAZZA AFFARI
Meanwhile, in Piazza Affari the great protagonist of the day was Luxottica which gained 3,9% after the announcement of the agreement with Google to produce smartglasses, glasses with incorporating technological tools. In particular, the two companies will form a team of experts dedicated to the design, development, instrumentation and engineering of Glass products that combine fashion and lifestyle with technological innovation. Luxottica also announced that the Group's two most important proprietary brands, Ray-Ban and Oakley, which boasts decades of experience in the field of wearable technology thanks to MP3 and HUD devices, will be the subject of the collaboration with Glass.
UNIPOLSAI SHINES, S&P CANCELS THE CREDITWATCH ON GENERALI
At Piazza Affari the best blue chip was UnipolSai + 4,1% on the highs since July 2012. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has gained 18%. Pushing the stock last week and also today are the accounts for 2013, better than expected results. The company, born from the merger between Unipol and Fondiaria-Sai, closed 2013 with a post-merger perimeter net profit of €694m. The combined ratio of the Non-Life business improved, falling to 93,3% from 101,9% in 2012 (the lower the combined ratio, the more efficient the company).
Salt too Generali + 1,5%. Standard & Poor's confirmed the company's A- rating by removing the creditwatch with negative implications launched at the end of last November "following the review of the global evaluation criteria introduced last year" which had raised fears of the start of a wave of sales on Italian securities . The outlook remains negative because, according to a note from the rating agency, it reflects the long-term sovereign rating on Italy. But the note adds that it expects that "Generali's exposure to Italian assets will not increase in the next two years in relation to its core capital".
NO DAY FOR POPULAR PEOPLE
The banks are bad, especially the Popolari and Mps -0,7%. The worst was bpm -3,3%, penalized by the judgment of Kepler Cheuvreux analysts who lowered the judgment to Reduce from the previous Hold, while raising the target price to 0,6 euro from 0,45 euro. Banco Popolare +0,36% recovered almost all the heavy losses accumulated in the afternoon in the final when it came to lose more than 4% reaching a minimum of 15,73 euros. The slide could be related to technical analysis. Experts have identified in the 17-18 euro area (high in the last three years) a strong resistance capable of curbing the upward trend.
Unicredit +0,1%, Intesa +0,6%, Mediobanca gains 1,1%. Bad day for popular banks: Banca Popolare di Milano lost 3,3% after Kepler Cheuvreux cut the rating to Reduce. Ubi -0,1%, Pop.Emilia -1,8%.
MEDIASET DOES NOT SELL PREMIUMS
Return to profit in 2013 for Mediaset +1,63% which, however, will not distribute dividends for the second consecutive year. The television group closed the year with consolidated revenues of 3,414 billion (-8,2% on 2012) and an operating result, higher than expected, of 246,3 million compared to -253 million a year ago. The net result returned positive for 8,9 million after the loss of 287 million in the previous year, also thanks to strong cost savings. Advertising sales in Italy recorded a drop of 2013% in 11,4 and was still "slightly negative" in the first three months of 2014. At the moment, it was specified during the conference call, there is no project aimed at selling shares of Mediaset Premium. The project announced in December regarding a possible integration of the Italian and Spanish pay activities is still being studied and "nothing has been decided".
CITIGROUP RAISES THE FIAT TARGET. GEFRAN FLIES BETWEEN THE SMALLS
Among the blue chips worth noting: Fiat rose by 0,5%: Citigroup which revised the target price on the stock from 5,9 to 6,9 euros, confirming the sell rating. The stock was also driven by the hypotheses of a robust relaunch plan for the Alfa Romeo brand.
Cnh Industrial +1,6%, Pirelli +1,3%. Exor it closed up 2,8%. Pirelli+1,3%.
Eni rose by 0,9%, Enel + 1,5% Telecom Italy + 1,1%.
From luxury stocks, Yoox it rebounded 1,9% after yesterday's drop. Tod's +1,4%, Ferragamo -0,2%, Moncler +0,6%. It stood out from the rest of the list Gefran, which achieved a sensational +19,57% rise to 3,862 after the presentation of the 2014-2016 industrial plan which provides for an average annual growth in revenues of 12,5%.
