Fine Malaysia Airlines plane with 295 people on board shot down over the sky of Ukraine on the border with Russia, then the Israeli ground offensive on Gaza. The international crises, removed from the markets for a long time, have burst onto the financial scene without however triggering dramatic reactions: the attack is considered, for now, an isolated gesture.
Tokyo closes with a drop of just over 1%. The balance sheet for the week is slightly positive. Wall Street, already nervous about the sanctions against Russia, in the space of a few minutes yesterday recorded the most massive loss since last April 10: Dow Jones -0,94%, S&P -1,14%. The Nasdaq is down 1,41%. Final in deep red also for the European price lists: Paris -1,21%, Frankfurt -1,07%, London -0,68%. Madrid loses 1,17%. Piazza Affari, which plunged in the final stages, lost 2,21%.
The euro is worth 1,3526 against the dollar this morning. Gold maturing in August jumped $17,1, or 1,3%, to $1.316,9 an ounce. Oil finished up 1,81% at $103,03 a barrel.
Treasuries were also on the rise with the 2,465-year yield (which moves inversely to prices) down to 10%. During the day, the 2,77-year BTP traded at a yield of 2,82%, from 1,16%. The spread moved little because the yield on the German Bund also fell, at XNUMX%, just a whisker from its historic low.
MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES 18 THOUSAND CUTS. GOOD GOOGLE ACCOUNTS
Facing the shock of the attack in the skies, the many novelties of Corporate America take a back seat. Microsoft +1% announced the layoff of 18 employees, accounting for 14% of the workforce, mostly in the subsidiary Nokia.
Google advances, +1% in post-exchange trading. In the evening, the company announced its quarterly accounts: revenues of 15,96 billion (against 15,61 billion expected), profits of 3,42 billion (3,23 billion a year ago). Customer clicks on paid offers grew by 25%.
IBM's revenues and profits were better than expected, but the stock dropped 0,6%. Same fate for Morgan Stanley: -0,62% despite a net profit more than doubled to 94 cents per share, revenues at 8,6 billion.
MEDIOBANCA, SALT BOLLORE'
Banks stand out among the most sacrificed sectors (European Stoxx of the sector -0,9%). Banco Espirito Santo's landslide resumed on the Lisbon Stock Exchange (-6,5%): Standard&Poor's revised the bank's rating to B- and confirmed the negative outlook. In Piazza Affari, the Bigs lose their shots: Unicredit and Intesa leave 1,9% on the ground. Monte Paschi -2,3%.
Mediobanca loses 2,2%. the board abolished the three large groups of shareholders that make up the bank's shareholders' agreement, lightening the structure of the agreement. The pact will meet again on 29 September to draw up the lists of candidates for the new board, while on 17 September the board will hold the meeting on the budget. Vincent Bolloré has increased his stake in the capital of the Piazzetta Cuccia institute from 6,4% to 7,01%. The new rules of the agreement provide that Unicredit and the Bolloré group, respectively the first and second shareholder, will designate the two vice presidents.
Pop.Milan -2,2%, Banco Popolare -2,5%. Generali falls by 1,6% despite the new positive recommendation (Overweight) by JP Morgan.
TELEPHONE BRAKES TELECOM. GTECH'S RATING DROP
Weighing down on the index was a sharp turnaround by some stocks at the head of Wednesday's rise. Telecom Italia, already the protagonist of a leap of 7,5% the day before, yesterday fell back by 3,4%, also as a reaction to the announcement that Telefonica, the main shareholder with 14,8%, has launched an operation to reduce its stake to 9%. Equita (buy rating and target price at 1,05 euros confirmed) underlined that Telefonica's descent was dictated by the need to comply with the provisions of the Brazilian Antitrust (under penalty of the obligation to open the capital of Vivo) and not inspired from strategic considerations or financial opportunities.
Mediaset loses hits, -2%. GTech was stable (-0,2%) after the big leap (+4%) following the announcement of the maxi acquisition in the United States, the slot machine manufacturer Igt. Standard & Poor's downgraded the Italian company's corporate rating to 'BBB-' from 'BBB' and its short-term rating to 'A-3' from 'A-2'. Kepler confirms the buy but lowers the target price to 23 euros from 26,5. The broker places the emphasis on debt, which will reach 6,7 billion euros at the end of 2016. The increase in earnings per share will only take place in two years' time, when the effect of synergies will prevail over the restructuring costs.
GERMAN RUMORS ARE GOOD FOR FIAT
A day of great turbulence for Fiat which closes at +2% after having reached a rise of 5% following the rumors of a German newspaper according to which Volkswagen has started negotiations with the Agnelli family to acquire the entire Fiat-Chrysler group . Exor, the holding company of the Agnelli family, rises by 0,9%: an Exor spokesman has denied, a Volkswagen statement says that the group currently has no plans to make acquisitions.
Pirelli loses 0,9% despite Credit Suisse having started the hedge with a positive Outperform recommendation. Among industrialists, Finmeccanica -0,4%, StM -0,8%, Prysmian -1,3%, Tenaris -1,5%.
THE RUSSIA EFFECT WEIGHTS ON ENEL AND ENI
Black day for the Big State, penalized for close business relations with Russia. Backtracking by Enel (-1,9%) and Eni (-1,1%) after yesterday's increases. Both groups have business relationships with Russian companies and the new sanctions are likely to weigh on the business.
In luxury, the rebound of Yoox continues (+4,6%), on the wave of the positive opinion of JP Morgan. Brunello Cucinelli (+1,20%) closed the first six months of the year with revenues of 175,8 million euros, an increase of 11,6% from the 157,6 million of the same period last year. Tod's -2,3%, Ferragamo -2,2%, Moncler +0,1%.
