Sitting with the handbrake for Piazza Affari with the Ftse MIb which, weighed down by the banks, closed up by a fractional +0,49% against the more consistent gains of the European lists. Paris rose by 1,32%, London by 0,82% and Frankfurt by 2,27%. The German stock market is benefiting from particularly encouraging news on the economic front: the Zew confidence index for March beat expectations, settling at 11,2 points. Still on the macroeconomic front, it should be noted that employment in the OECD area in the fourth quarter of 2015 increased by 0,2 percentage points compared to the previous 66,5%, thus returning to the highest level recorded before the crisis in the first quarter of 2008.
The Btp-bund spread is up to 123 basis points and a yield of 1,41% while the new twenty-year Btp has recorded applications for over 17 billion. The new 20-year Btp has been issued for 6,5 billion with a gross yield annual issue of 2,302%.
In a hearing on the 2016 Def before the House and Senate budget commissions, the president of Istat, Giorgio Alleva noted that "according to Istat's short-term forecasting model, in the first quarter of 2016 the cyclical change in Italian GDP ( adjusted for calendar effects) would be 0,3%, with a confidence interval between +0,1% and 0,5%”. “Growth – he added – is expected to continue at a similar pace also in the following quarter”.
Indices on Wall Street slipped into negative territory after that the S&P500 hit 2.100 for the first time since December last. The purchases reward Goldman Sachs: despite having filed a quarterly with more than halved profits, the results have turned out to be better than analysts' expectations. On the macro front, the number of new construction sites opened in the United States fell by 8,8% in March to a seasonally adjusted 1,089 million units, while the number of building permits fell by 7,7% to 1,086 million. Numbers clearly worse than the expectations of analysts who expected a zero change as regards construction sites and a 1,7% progress as regards building permits. Oil held steady with WTI up 3,4% to 42,6 dollars a barrel and Brend up 3% to 44,2 dollars a barrel. The euro-dollar exchange rate is at 1,1372, up by 0,53%.
The markets are now awaiting Thursday's meeting of the ECB from which, however, no particular announcements are expected.
Meanwhile, the Bank Lending Surveys conducted in all Eurozone countries have highlighted an improvement in the conditions of access to finance for businesses and an increase in the demand for loans.
In Piazza Affari the banks are losing ground: Bper -3,34%, Ubi Banca -2,8%, Banco Popolare -2,74%, Bmps -2,31% and Bpm -2,07%. Unicredit limits the red to 0,58% after it signed an agreement with Quaestio Management sgr, on which the Atlante fund depends, for the subscription of the unopted share capital increase of Popolare Vicenza linked to the IPO. The institute led by Federico Ghizzoni thus eliminates a heavy factor of uncertainty given the guarantee given to the operation.
Finmeccanica manages to close unchanged after a day of sales linked to market rumors about the possible resignation of CEO Mauro Moretti who would leave to assume the role of economic development minister in Matteo Renzi's government, taking the place of Federica Guidi.
Purchases reward Cnh Industrial +5,38%, Yoox +4,98% after the announcement of the execution of a reserved capital increase of 100 million, fully subscribed at 28 euros per share by the Alabbar group of Dubai, Buzzi Unicem +4,04%, Stm +3,17% and FCA +3,05 %.
