The roller coaster ride continues. After yesterday's sharp rises, Asian stock markets are slowing down. And on the markets there is only room for one question: what will the Fed decide next week? A new signal is coming from the USA that argues in favor of a rate hike: open job positions grew by 430 thousand units in July to 5,8 million, the maximum for seven years. But the voices of those who, like Lawrence Summers, believe the rate hike is "more dangerous today than two weeks ago" are also gaining strength.
In this uncertainty, Tokyo (-2,2%) this morning lost part of the gains from yesterday's memorable session (+7,7%, a record since 1970). Hong Kong is also holding back (-1,9%).
Weak Chinese Stock Exchanges: Shanghai -0,8%, Shenzhen -0,4%. According to Goldman Sachs, in the last three months the Chinese government has spent 353 billion dollars to support the stock exchange. But the reputation of the markets has been damaged by the attitude of the authorities. The New York Times dedicates a report this morning on police interventions to intimidate sellers on the Stock Exchange.
Inflation is on the rise (+2%), but only due to the soaring prices of pork, the staple food of the working class: in June, the increase in prices, on an annual basis, was 16,7%. Conversely, the prices of industrial products have been declining for 42 months.
APPLE -1,9% NOT WARMING US STOCKS
The confrontation between hawks and doves of the Fed conditioned the session on Wall Street, down after a promising start. Ultimately the Dow Jones index lost 1,45%, ditto the S&P 500, while the Nasdaq fell 1,1%.
The market reaction to the presentation of new Apple products was cold: the new version of the iPhone 6, the iPad Pro (12.9-inch screen) and the new potential of Apple TV. The stock lost 1,92%.
Barnes & Noble, already a leader in the bookstore sector, lost nearly 16% on the back of a fifth consecutive quarterly decline in sales.
Oil is also down due to expectations of a new increase in inventories in the United States: Brent has slipped to 47,58 dollars a barrel and Wti to 44,15 dollars.
MILAN +0,8% HALVES EARNINGS IN THE FINAL
Positive third session for the European Stock Exchanges, but final slowdown in correspondence with the decline of Wall Street. Milan, like the other European stock exchanges, moved in the wake of the great rebound of the Asian markets.
In Piazza Affari, the FtseMib index closed at 0,8% with widespread gains among blue chips, well below the highs of the session (+2%). The Paris Stock Exchange rose by 1%, Frankfurt +1,6%. London also rose (+1,3%), thus celebrating the long reign of Queen Elizabeth.
The BTPs are stable on the eve of the mid-month auctions. Germany has placed 3,2 billion euros in a not brilliant auction on the 4-year bond, against an offer of up to 112 billion. The btp/bund spread drops to 1,828 points, the ten-year yield is XNUMX%.
THE PURCHASES OF BOLLORE' PUSH TELECOM
In great evidence TelecomItalia (+2,8%), which benefited from the announcement that Vivendi increased its stake from 14,9% to 15,48%, consolidating its position as the group's leading shareholder. The operation dates back to 4 September. The French giant has never made a secret of wanting to play a leading role within Italian society and is demonstrating it with deeds.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, the managing director Arnaud De Puyfontaine stated that the investment in Telecom Italia will allow Vivendi to strengthen its positions in the content distribution market in southern Europe.
SICKNESS IN ASIA FOR STM, WORST BLUE CHIP
On the contrary, STM suffers, down 4,3% to 6,42 euros after the American competitor Fairchild announced a profit warning: the third quarter of 2015 will close with revenues of only 340 million dollars, against the previous forecast of 355-375 million. The consensus of analysts indicated revenues for the third quarter at 365 million.
Meanwhile, the chief financial officer of Stm, Carlo Ferro, expressed concern about the trend of inventories in China. The Asia Pacific area accounts for 58% of the Italian-French joint venture's turnover.
UBI TOWARDS THE SPA, SOCGEN REDISCOVERS UNICREDIT
Banks are tonic in line with the European Stoxx for the sector (+1,77%). Ubi Banca, the first among the popular ones to convene the assembly for the transformation into a joint-stock company, achieved the most consistent gains (+1,65%).
Close behind is Unicredit (+1,58% to 5,78 euros), promoted to Buy (it hasn't happened since August 2013) by Société Générale and HSBC (target price 6,60 euros). In the best moment of the session it had gone up to 5,94 euros.
Intesa closed unchanged, MontePaschi +0,7%. Banca Popolare di Milano rose by 1,5%, according to HSBC the stock is worth buying.
There is still liveliness in the asset management and insurance segments. Data on July fundraising was published yesterday: despite China's alarm, Italians continued to put money into asset management products. UnipolSai +1,2%, Generali +0,9%, Azimut +1,4%, Mediolanum +1%.
THE EGYPTIAN "TREASURE" PUSHES ENI AND SAIPEM
A fundamental contribution to the rise of the Milan Stock Exchange came from Eni (+1,3%): the CEO Descalzi said that the new gas field found in Egypt is much larger than the initial estimates. The manager explained that the Zohr well could "have some upgrades but not in the size of the Mamba [the field in Mozambique where the upgrade was 100%] we will see in 2016 when we restart exploration".
Descalzi also added that he hoped to be able to bring "the final investment decision to a Board of Directors in December". The Zohr field (located at a depth of 1.450 meters in the Shorouk block) is a "supergiant" field of natural gas with an area of approximately 100 square kilometres.
The other oil companies were also positive. Saipem +1,4%. The parent company Eni has announced that the company engaged in services to the oil industry will play a leading role in the development of the Egyptian maxi-field. Since the beginning of the year, Saipem stock has lost 10%, but is rapidly catching up with the rest of the list. In the last month it has been the best blue chip in the FtseMib with a gain of 4%.
Among utilities, Enel +0,5%, Snam +0,9%.
LUMP OF CAMPARI, THUD OF CERVED
Campari (+3%) recorded the promotion to Buy by Deutsche Bank. The industrialists were positive: Fiat Chrysler rose by 1%, Finmeccanica +1,2%, Prysmian +1,3% and Brembo +2,5%.
In Luxury, Ferragamo +0,9%. Safilo (+1,7%) announced the renewal of the license with Hawaianas.
Outside the main basket, Centrale del Latte Torino gained 8%, Banzai +3,8%.
Cerved thud (-4,46% to 6,75 euros) after CVC Capital Partners placed just under 15% of the capital. However, the stock closed above the placement price at 6,55 euro.
