Volatile session for the stock exchanges awaiting the speech of Janet Yellen, chairman of the Federal Reserve. Milan resets the losses and closes around parity (+0,03%), however above the session lows. Positive signs also for the other main European indices with the exception of London which closed at -0,01%. Conversely, Paris rose by 0,85% and Frankfurt by 0,37%, still moving with fractional gains in a climate of anticipation. At the close of Europe, Wall Street indices have the minus sign with the Dow Jones dropping 0,21% and the S&P500 moving just below par at -0,05%.
The market is hoping for some clarity on when the US central bank could raise rates, especially after several members of the Fed they have not ruled out the possibility that there may already be a squeeze in April. The painting is then weighed down by the movement of the black gold.
Il Petroleum it is still moving below 40 dollars a barrel, while forecasts for US inventories reach record levels. WTI dropped 3,55% to 37,99 dollars a barrel and Brent 3,43% to 38,89 dollars. The euro-dollar exchange rate is stable at 1,1199. Gold rose 0,47% to $1227,43 an ounce. The yields of US government bonds, the Tresury, fall to 1,85%.
Lo Btp Bund spread down to 110 basis points and a yield of 1,24%. In Italy, the Treasury sold all 6 billion euro of six-month BOTs against a demand that reached 9,7 billion with falling rates. The average return remains negative and drops to -0,050% from -0,042%.
On the macroeconomic front the American consumer confidence it rose in March to 96,2 points from 94 in February, better than the expectations of analysts who expected a substantially unchanged figure compared to the previous month. House prices in the 20 major US cities, on the other hand, remained unchanged in January compared to the previous month while they rose 5,7% compared to a year ago according to the Case Shiller index.
In Piazza Affari it is heavy Saipem, worse blue chip – 5,25%, which is affected by the drop in oil. But the sales mainly affect the banking sector. Ps -4,78% is penalized by fears about a possible increase, which has been denied. bpm -3,64% and Banco Popolare -3,75% are still suffering the repercussions of the merger despite the promotion of analysts and rating agencies. Moody's expressed a positive opinion as did the brokers of Exane which confirmed the Outpeform opinion on both banks and raised the target price of Pop Milano by 29% to 1,15 euro (while it lowered that of Banco Popolare by 6% to 11,8 euros). Among the worst stocks also Bper -4,13%. Ubi -2,06%, Unicredit -2,7%. Among the counter-current banks Intesa Sanpaolo +1,08%.
Under pressure Poste Italiane -1,71% in the wake of the rumors accrediting a Treasury plan to sell a second tranche of capital of the national postal giant. Eni closed unchanged after Moody's cut its rating to Baa1 from A3, with a stable outlook. Bucking the trend at the top of the Ftse Mib Buzzi Unicem +4,46%, Ferragamo +2,71%, Prysmian +1,87%, Enel +1,59% to 3,972 after Ubs raised its target price to 5 euro, Enel Green power +1,53%. Generali +0,85%, Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone has purchased another 0,19% of the capital in recent days, bringing the stake to 2,82%.
Out of the main basket it flies Banca Carige +4,8%. The institute confirmed that it had received an offer to purchase the group's "non-performing" loan portfolio, offsetting the effects with a capital increase of 550 million (entirely guaranteed by funds affiliated with Apollo), reserved for funds referable to Apollo for 500 million, and offered as an option for the remaining 50 million to current shareholders.
