The bull race on the financial markets continues, but with some difficulty. The Tokyo Stock Exchange slows down in the final (-0,4%), awaiting the central bank's leadership who will confirm the policy of sub-zero rates, unlike what the Swedish Riskbank will do, which today, after five years of negative rates, will bring the cost of money back to zero. It is an important signal, given that Stockholm was the first to focus on negative rates which were not sufficient to bring inflation, now at 1,7%, to the longed-for 2 percent.
The other Asian indexes slow down: “Hang Seng of Hong Kong – 0,1%, the Chinese CSI 300 is flat and the Kospi of Seoul is down by 0,3%.
BEIJING INLETS CASH FOR SHOPPING
The yuan weakens against the dollar following tonight's central bank intervention, a $29 billion net liquidity injection, achieved through a few basis point adjustment down to the cost of repurchase agreements (REPO) contracts at 14 days. With this provision, the People's Bank begins to inject cash into the system, in view of the lunar new year, a period in which there is often the risk of a liquidity crisis because shopping is unleashed and because Chinese banks subscribe to the bonds issued at the beginning of the year by local authorities.
IN THE USA, FUNDS MAKE STOKERS
Donald Trump is starting the battle of impeachment, which starts today, with a letter of open challenge to the Democrats, who "are putting democracy at risk". The tug of war does not, however, slow down the activity of Congress, which is busy approving the budget. This is another reason why Wall Street's mood is improving: 68% of investors, according to the latest Bofa survey, believe a recession is unlikely in 2020. As a consequence, the desire to participate in the party is growing: 31% of operators, the figure highest of the year, think about increasing your exposure to the markets.
TODAY THE DEBUT OF STAR WARS
Wall Street has updated its record levels again: Dow Jones +0,11%, S&P 500 +0,03, Nasdaq +0,1%.
Apple rises to a new high (+0,2%), while Netflix wakes up (+3,7%). But attention today is focused on the US debut of the latest Star Wars episode, Walt Disney's Christmas joker.
There is no shortage of negative notes: it falls after the FedEx Stock Exchange (-6%), hit by disappointing accounts. Above all, the Boeing crisis is becoming increasingly serious. Not producing the Maxi 737 could cost 0,5% of US GDP.
Oil slows down this morning: 65,78 dollars a barrel for Brent.
GREAT BRITAIN TOWARDS HARD BREXIT
Boris Johnson thought of curbing the euphoria of price lists in Europe, evoking the prospect of a hard Brexit by the end of next year. The British prime minister will add a new clause to the Brexit bill to make any attempts by Parliament to extend the transition process beyond the end of 2020 illegal.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro-sterling cross rose again this morning, to 0,849, closing up 1,6% yesterday evening.
This morning, however, the spotlights are concentrated on Fiat Chrysler (+0,95%), after yesterday the agreement was reached for the merger on an equal footing with Peugeot. Yesterday evening the board of PSA (+0,87%) meeting in Paris and that of FCA in London approved the memorandum of understanding. Today, before the stock exchanges open, the official announcement has been released which will be followed by a press conference. The 50 billion operation leads to the birth of a global car giant, the fourth largest after Volkswagen, Renault-Nissan and Toyota. Before the completion of the transaction, FCA expects a special dividend of 5,5 billion euros and a stake in Comau for its shareholders. Peugeot will give its shareholders 46% of the subsidiary Faurecia, a component company.
BUSINESS SQUARE IS THE ONLY GREEN (+0,45%)
Piazza Affari (+0,45%) was the positive exception of Euroland yesterday. The Milanese list, unique in Europe, closed at 23.630 basis points.
Oil prices contributed to the increase. Eni closes up 0,57%. Saipem +1,18%. Italgas (+2,33%) and Terna (+1,53%) also made a big splash.
Despite Wall Street's recovery in the afternoon, European markets closed in the red: Frankfurt -0,89%; Paris -0,39%; Madrid -0,68%. London remains afloat (+0,02%).
THUD OF UNILEVER: -6% IN AMSTERDAM
The City blesses Unilever's decision (-6% in Amsterdam) to move from the British Stock Exchange due to fears of Brexit. The consumer industry giant had to announce a drop in revenues in the last part of 2019 (-3/5%) to the lowest rate for ten years. The regions that recorded the greatest declines were South East, West Africa and India, the multinational's second largest market.
THE EU COMMISSION CALLS FOR MORE EXPANSIVE POLICIES
Closing in positive territory for the Italian paper, which aligned itself with the euro bonds after an initial part of the session marked by weakness. The spread settled at 147 basis points, in line with the previous day's closing. The ten-year rate is in the 1,17% area, after closing at 1,20% the previous session.
In its annual recommendations, the EU Commission has asked the 19 countries of the euro area to use fiscal policies to implement structural reforms and thus help the ECB in its efforts to support inflation and job creation.
The Treasury has announced that today it has repurchased two government bonds for a total of 500 million euros through specialist operators.
ATLANTIA TOWARDS THE SALE OF A SHARE OF ADR
At Piazza Affari yesterday was also the day of Atlantia (+2,6%), which is evaluating the sale of a minority stake (49%) of Aeroporti di Roma, the company that manages the Fiumicino and Ciampino airports, estimated overall at around 5 billion.
NEXI BRAKES, UBI SELLS BAD LOANS
Ubi Banca (-1%) completed the sale to the independent securitization vehicle Iseo Spv di a portfolio of non-performing loans whose gross book value amounts to Euro 857,6 million.
The other banks in no particular order: Banco Bpm +0,1%, Bper +0,38%, Unicredit -0,63%.
Nexi retraces (-3,45%) after the advance in the last few sessions. Finecobank also down (-1,79%). Among the mid caps, Piaggio (+2,19%) and Ovs (+2,8%) performed well.
