Slow down GameStop, even silver loses a few hits this morning. But the situation of the markets, shocked by the explosion of purchases by traders, driven by "advices" via Reddit and other online platforms, remains under high tension: Robinhood's fundraising to support the positions rises to 3,4 billion dollars opened on GameStop, yesterday -34%, but the attention of WallStreetBets chat goers is now shifting to mining companies, also because the Chicago commodity management company has made exasperated leveraged trading more expensive on silver. Yesterday, two unknown US mining companies, Hecla Mining and Coeur Mining, gained 28% and 23%. And silver prices only at eight-year highs.
The phenomenon, however, does not affect market trends that much which, pending President Biden's decisions on stimuli (the orientation would be to hold firm on the amount without meeting the requests of the Republicans), do not suffer from the increased volatility and remain tilted to the upside:
The decline in new infections in China and other countries provides additional fuel for the stock market rally in early February. The MSCI Asia Pacific index gained 1,2% this morning. Tokyo's Nikkei, which is not a part of it, gained 0,9%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng +1,6%. CSI 300 of the Shanghai and Shenzen price lists +1%, Taiex of Taipei +2,5%.
Wall Street futures point higher in the aftermath of the best S&P 500 session since Nov. 24. The Nasdaq closed up 2,6%. Dow Jones +0,76%, S&P 500 +1,61%. Tonight, with markets closed, Amazon accounts will come out. The numbers of Alphabet will also arrive this week.
BAN OF DISCOVERY IN SEOUL, MODI'S SECRET WEAPON VACCINES
Trading frenzy and traditional finance together serve to explain other phenomena of this anomalous, if not wild, season. In Korea there is a tough confrontation between those who ask the government to make the ban on short selling permanent and those who call for measures to contain the boom triggered by chip buying.
The result is the continuation of the rally: the Kospi of Seoul is up 1,1%. Lee Nak-yo, the leader of the majority party said tonight in a speech in parliament that he will ask the government to proceed with a new distribution of money to all citizens who do not exceed a certain income threshold, the fourth since the outbreak of the pandemic . Nak-yo also provides aid to commercial and industrial activities, to be financed with new loans.
India is also taking off, on the wave of the country's leadership on the vaccine front. New Dehli, the first producer in the world thanks to the Serum Institute, intends to show the world the scientific and technological power of India. In the immediate term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to raise an additional 11 billion dollars from the market through the issue of loans to be used for health measures, also in favor of some neighboring countries.
Mumbai's BSE Sensex is up 2%, from +5% in yesterday's session. The federal government has announced a sharp increase in healthcare spending (+135%), an increase in investments of 35% and a series of openings to foreign capital in insurance companies. The budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman aims for a GDP deficit ratio of 6,8% in the March 2021-March 2022 fiscal year.
Brent oil is up 1% to 56,9 dollars a barrel, third session positive. Royal Dutch Shell has been a very active buyer of North Sea crude in the past few hours, having booked five cargo vessels in one day, the number not seen by any single buyer in the past decade in this market.
ITALIAN MANUFACTURE STARTS AGAIN. THANKS TO CHINA
A pleasant surprise comes from the data on Italian manufacturing. In January, the PMI index shot up to 55,1 points, well above forecasts and a good part of the Eurozone. The rally was favored by the excellent performance of Italian machine tool exports to China, a strong sign of recovery in the economy "which gives us hope - underlined the chief economist of IHS Chris Williamson - in a brilliant recovery in the second half of the year". Further fueling the optimism is the news that AstraZeneca will supply 9 million additional vaccine doses to the European Union in the first quarter of this year, while BioNTech is ramping up production of doses of its anti-Covid vaccine and will deliver up to 75 million of additional doses to the EU in the second quarter.
BUSINESS PLACE AND FRANKFURT AT THE TOP
Milan advances by 1,17%, to 21.825. Frankfurt is even better, the other terminal for exports to Beijing. Paris +1,2%. Madrid (only +0,43%) pays for the uncertain trend of the PMI index: 49,3 below the recession line, the worst result for seven months. London +0.91%. Ryanair is down 2% after estimating a loss of almost €1bn in the current financial year, by far its worst performance ever.
THE SPREAD RETURNS TO THE PRE-CRISIS LEVEL
The BTP ended the session modestly up, with the spread returning to around 114 points, to pre-crisis government levels, in a market that believes in a quick solution to the political stalemate. At the end of the session, the yield of the 10-year BTP traded at 0,62% from 0,63% at the start and 0,65% at the end on Friday.
The ECB has increased its liquidity injection in the last week. Under Quantitative Easing, Frankfurt bought €3,792 billion in Italian government bonds in January, against sales of €773 million the month before.
NEW GOVERNMENT, TODAY THE NEGOTIATION CONTINUES
Verification for the formation of a new executive restarts this morning from the theme of justice. The Speaker of the Chamber Roberto Fico could opt for a second round of consultations before going up to Colle in the afternoon. There remain large distances on the health ESM, citizen's income and shock absorbers, infrastructure and major works, the vaccine plan and the prescription reform. And then there is the knot of names, starting with that of Giuseppe Conte for the presidency of the Council, Roberto Gualtieri for the Economy and Maria Elena Boschi for whom Renzi is asking for the leadership of a department.
TRADER IN ACTION ON TISCALI AND CIABO
Also in Milan, in imitation of Wall Street, anomalous upward swings were recorded yesterday on some listed securities due to word of mouth artfully developed on Telegram chats and Reddit forums. the most speculated title was Tiscali (+16% after having recorded a leap up to +23%), indicated by the chats as an ideal target. Ciabo (+26%) was also launched by Reddit on the day when the group's Chinese subsidiary, Easy Best, reached an agreement to supply 1.000 display cases to an Australian restaurant chain.
THE NEGOTIATION CONTINUES, ATLANTIA TAKES FLIGHT
But the Oscar of the day went to Atlantia (+8,78%). The purchases were triggered by the letter in which Cdp together with the Macquarie and Blackstone funds asks Atlantia to postpone the presentation of a new proposal to the end of February without anticipating hypotheses on the figures. Other indiscretions concern the Sintonia holding (which owns Atlantia and Cellnex), which could open the capital to third parties.
UBS PROMOTES UNICREDIT A BUY
Brilliant day for banking and asset management stocks, after the appointment of Andrea Orcel at the helm of Unicredit (+1,4%, promoted buy by Ubs with a target price that goes from 8,8 to 10,8 euros) boosted banking risk hypotheses in the coming months. Particularly positive were Azimut (+3,43%), Poste Italiane (+2,70%) and Banca Mediolanum (+2,52%). Anima (+2,92%) could play an important role in a possible merger. Nexi +2,8% on the day the receipt lottery started.
FERRARI ROOMS ON THE EVE OF THE ACCOUNTS. CAR MARKET -14%
Among the recovering industrialists Interpump (+2,81%) and Stellantis (+0,61%). Ferrari is on the rise (+2,41%). A negative start to the year once again for the Italian car market. There were 134.001 registrations in January, 14% less than in the same period last year. The Stellantis group closes the first month of the year with a worse performance than the market trend: we are talking about 52.729 registrations, 21,7% less than in January 2020.
TECHNOGYM RUNS ON THE NEW TREADMILL
Recordati (+1,8%) announced the signing of a license and supply agreement with Tolmar International Ltd for the marketing of Eligard (leuprorelin acetate) in Europe. Equita raises the target price to 54 euros. Technogym +7% following the launch of MyRun, the new treadmill for the home. "We aim to anticipate the achievement of 300 million euros in Home Fitness turnover and 1 billion euros overall in the medium term," said CEO Nerio Alessandri.
