The reassuring choices of the ECB and a series of better-than-expected quarterly reports today brought a breath of optimism to European stock markets and favored an upward closure, despite the not so reassuring trend of the pandemic, with Germany nearly 30 cases in a day. Eurozone government bonds also performed well.
Piazza Affari rises by 0,98%, to 24.398 points. Nexi +4,97%, Enel +2,72%, Inwit +2,18%, Stm +2,14% are appreciated. Mixed the banks. the worst is Uicredit -0,71%. In luxury Moncler, +2,13%, updates its all-time high in the session, awaiting the first quarter accounts, which will be released after markets are closed. In bonds, the spread between Italian and German 0,6-year bonds fell only slightly by 101% to 0,75 basis points, but yields fell. The rate of the BTP at +0,26% and that of the Bund at -XNUMX%.
The market liked Christine Lagarde's words in particular the fact that the ECB “has not discussed any downsizing of the Pepp pandemic programme. It's premature." Any changes are “data dependent” and not time bound. On the other hand, "the economy of the euro area has yet to cross the bridge that will take it out of the pandemic" - argues Lagarde - therefore it still needs crutches: "that of the budget and that of money". Countries' debt shouldn't be scary if it is "good debt", aimed at fighting the pandemic and accompanied by reforms that boost productivity.
The ECB left interest rates unchanged as forecast and will continue with the purchases of the 'Pepp' pandemic program for a total of 1850 billion "at least until the end of March 2022 and in any case until it judges the coronavirus crisis to be over", and "it expects that the purchases in the current quarter will be conducted at a pace significantly higher". Those betting on tapering are now looking forward to the June meeting. Some analysts - writes Reuters - fear that the bank could commit a "hawkish mistake" following the good news from European economic data.
As regards today's session, purchases were also favored by the quarterly performance of some key companies. For fashion it was the day of Hermes (2,05% in Paris), which closed a quarter with sales up 44% mainly thanks to the Asian market. Brilliant spirits group Pernod Ricard, +1,3%, estimates a 10% growth in its profit for the full year. The Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer Asml did well, +2,03%, after the positive forecasts released yesterday and which prompted many brokerage firms to raise their target price.
Credit Swiss decreased (-2,11%), due to the quarterly loss of 252 million francs and the unexpected issue of convertible bonds to offset the impact on assets of the collapse of the hedge fund Archegos and the investment company Greensill . In this context: Frankfurt +0,92%, Paris +0,91%, Amsterdam +0,51%, Madrid +1,6%, London +0,61%, Zurich +0,16%.
Overseas, on the other hand, Wall Street is proceeding mixed after a weak start, despite the macro agenda showing the best data on new claims for unemployment benefits since the beginning of the pandemic. As far as the environment is concerned, the climate summit organized (online) by Joe Biden is underway, on the day dedicated to the Earth. On the occasion, the president announced the (non-binding) commitment of the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by half (compared to 2005) by the end of this decade.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro is slightly down on the dollar, but the exchange rate remains above 1,2. Oil remains in the window, with Brent in modest recovery +0,18%, 65,40 dollars a barrel, after the losses recorded following the explosion of Covid in a huge market like India, which has reached a record of 315 new cases in a single day.
Returning to the blue chips of Piazza Affari, utilities are appreciated: Terna +2,05%, Hera +1,96%, A2a +1,92%. At the bottom of the Diasorin list -1,19%. Outside the main basket Juventus stems the bleeding +0,66%. Ferragamo appreciates by 2,82%. The assembly today approved the 2020 budget, with a loss of the parent company of 34 million. The board of directors, which met immediately afterwards, designated Leonardo Ferragamo as non-executive chairman, Michele Norsa as executive vice-chairman and Micaela le Divelec Lemmi as CEO.
Brunello Cucinelli remains in the money, +047% after the results of the first quarter in line with expectations. Kepler Cheuvreux has raised its target price to 40 euros from 36. Creval loses 1,61% and falls to 12,24 euros per share, on the eve of the deadline for closing the tender offer whose deadline for subscriptions has been moved to 23 April.
