Today the vast majority of US operators will not be at the "combat post" in the desks. Wall Street practically closed the short week on Wednesday evening with historic highs on all the main indices (S&P500, Dow Jones, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 small caps).
Frankfurt climbed 0,39% to mark a new all-time high. Madrid +0,6%, London +0,1% and Paris +0,2% also performed well. Milan was the liveliest market yesterday: the Ftse Mib index returned above 19.000 points and gained 0,92% to 19.099 points.
Yesterday morning what should be the last Italian medium/long-term auction of the year took place, given that the mid-month one was canceled (today the Treasury has reached the target of 470 billion for 2013) and the end December, with payment currency January, technically belongs to 2014. The auction was easily covered in its maximum amount (2.5 billion) with good demand and issue price in line with the secondary.
No question on the total of 700 million euro of six-month BOTs on the occasion of the reopening reserved for 'specialist' operators on yesterday's auction. Reopened for 10% of the 7 billion euro placed yesterday, the six-monthly bond of 30 May 2014 was assigned yesterday at the weighted average price of 99,728 and just before 15,30 pm on the TradeWeb platform it is worth 99,738.
The Btp/Bund differential has been in a narrow range for days and is currently at 235 basis points with the yield on the Italian 4,05-year bond at 10%. Italy has extended its advantage over Spain to XNUMX basis points, after having gone negative for a few weeks following the growing friction within the government majority, which then resulted in the split of the PDL.
The recovery movement of our government securities therefore continues and we are approaching what for several months (beginning of 2013) we have considered the year-end target: spread of 200 basis points and yield of 3,80%.
BANKS
The banking sector stood out: Intesa +2,05%, Ubi Banca +2,2%. Banco Popolare +2.02%. Unicredit +1,59. According to Goldman Sachs analysts, Intesa SanPaolo and Unicredit are the two banks that will obtain the greatest benefits from the revaluation of Bankitalia's share decided yesterday by the Italian government.
Based on estimates, the impact at the level of Tier 1 ratio will be around 40-70 basis points and between 4% -7% at the market capitalization level, reducing the risks deriving from the deterioration of loans.
Only Mps lost 0,05% to 0,184 euros. Yesterday the new business plan was approved which envisages: net profit of approximately €0,9 billion in 2017, an increase in net interest income of €390 million compared to the annualized figure for the first 9 months of 2013, an increase in commissions of €767 million compared to 2012 (+8% annual average), cut in operating costs by 713 million compared to 2012 (4,8% annual average) and improvement in the cost of credit with a target for 2017 of 90 basis points.
The bank also announced its intention to continue with "its risk containment policy through the reduction of the government securities portfolio in assets available for sale from 23 to 17 billion euro". In 2017, as stated in the plan, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena will go from 2.750 to 2.200 branches, from 31 (data at the end of 2011) to 23 employees.
Purchases on Generali +0,65%: after the Investor Day some target prices were adjusted upwards: Ubs went from 14,7 euros to 16,5 euros, Kepler Cheuvreux from 18 euros to 20 euros and Exane from 15 euros at 16 euros.
Eni scored +0,06% to 17,75 euros: the CEO, Paolo Scaroni confirmed the rumors reported in recent weeks by the Norwegian press about a claim by his company to Statoil for about 10 billion dollars because the latter allegedly sold gas to the Italian group for several years at decidedly off-market prices: "they are probably correct", said the top manager.
Scaroni also reiterated that Libya does not allow him to sleep peacefully and therefore Eni looks to South-East Asia. Among the main industrial stocks, Fiat gained 1,7%, Finmeccanica +0,9%, Pirelli +1,7%. Weak StM -0,08%. Positive Italian luxury stocks, these are the changes: Ferragamo +0,3%, Tod's +1,1%, Luxottica +1%, Cucinelli +2,7%.
PUBLISHING
The publishing companies are supported by the arrival of a support plan for publishing by the Letta government (120 million euros). Rcs Mediagroup +4,1% and Mondadori +3,5% rose. Mediaset +0,18% at 3,392 euros, L'Espresso +1,86% benefited from the approval of the stability law which provides for an extraordinary fund of 120 million over three years for the sector to encourage investment.
Astaldi rose by 2,8%, promoted by Kepler Cheuvreux which raised the target price to 10 euro after the price was set for a fixed-rate senior bond loan for 500 million euro, maturing in 2020 The bonds will have an annual coupon of 7,125% and the issue price is equal to 100%. Following the success of the issue, Kepler Cheuvreux raised the target price of the stock from 8,4 euros to 10 euros, confirming the buy rating.
Snai +4,58% instead carried out the pricing of the issue of 320 million euro 7,625% Senior Secured Notes maturing on 15 June 2018 and 160 million 12% Senior Subordinated Notes which will mature on 15 December 2018.
Astm (Gavio group) enters with 17% in the capital of Itinera, paying 30 million following a reserved capital increase, according to a press release. With this operation Astm starts the process of diversification in the construction sector. Looking ahead, the integration of Itinera into Astm itself is also possible, in line with the company's strategic design.
