After closing the first six months with growth, the European and North American lists restart with optimism also in the month of August. The markets of the Old Continent archive the first session of the month slightly up and Wall Street opens in the green, ready to grab new highs, after the setback on Friday. Pharmaceutical stocks are buoyant in New York, while Moderna and Pfizer raise the price of their anti-Covid vaccines for the EU. The eleven sectors on the S&P 500 are all in the green right now, with energy up 0,8% and tech up 0,4%.
Quarterly earnings are also being published across the Atlantic, generally higher than expected and according to Art Hogan, chief market strategist of National Securities in New York, “the second quarter earnings season was nothing short of spectacular".
In Europe, Piazza Affari brings up the rear and gradually lost momentum during the day, finally stopping at a very slight drop -0,04, mainly due to sales of bank shares. Ferrari also remains in breakdown, -1,88%, despite the excellent results. Stocks related to health such as Disorin +3,1% and Amplifon +1,49% performed well.
After Milan, Frankfurt is the most timid and appreciates by 0,16%. Paris +0,96%, Madrid +0,98%, London +0,7% are more tonic. The French insurance company Axa earns 4,23% after posting a 180% rise in first-half net profit, while German rival Allianz lost 7,6% after US regulators launched an investigation into Allianz Global Investors' structured Alpha funds.
Even in a context of caution, again due to Covid, which has certainly infected over 60 million people worldwide, risk appetite is fueled by the accommodative attitude of the Fed, after last week's meeting. A monetary tightening by the US central bank does not seem around the corner and the shares soar. Bond prices also rise as yields fall.
On the other hand, the dollar weakens which, last eighth, recorded the worst performance since the month of May. Today the climate is stagnant and the exchange rate with the euro is little moved in the 1,187 area.
Oil also suffers, which leaves more than 3% (both Brent and WTI) on the ground, alarmed by the Chinese macro data, which showed a slowdown in the growth of the celestial empire. In July, the PMI Caixin fell to 50,3 points against the 51,3 of the past reading and against a figure of 51 points expected by insiders. For the manufacturing sector, this is the worst data for 15 months, which is weighed down by a slowdown in exports and the difficulties encountered by companies in the procurement of raw materials and components.
On the other hand, the European data are in chiaroscuro. The eurozone manufacturing PMI rose to 62,8 from 62,6 in June, higher than expected by analysts who had expected it to remain stable. Germany is the driving force, with 65,9 (from 65,6 in June), but France (to 58, from 58,1 in June), Spain (59 from 60,4) and Italy (60,3 points from 62,2 ,XNUMX in June, slightly lower than expected).
In the US, on the other hand, it is a record for the PMI, while slightly disappoints the manufacturing ISM. Furthermore, demand is strong, but the problems in the supply chain are worsening and inflationary pressures are increasing. Returning to Piazza Affari, among the big caps that close a positive session are Leonardo +2,29%; Azimuth +1,93%; Telecom +1,67%; Stm +1,56%.
Bad instead Finecobank -2,08%; Unicredit -1,96%; Understanding -0,73%. Mps also falls outside the main basket, -1,71%, with politics that has turned the spotlight on the possible marriage with Unicredit and the Minister of Economy Daniele Franco called to report this week in Parliament. Carige sinks in the sector, 10,73%, targeted by the post-rise realizations following the readmission to the Stock Exchange after the long stop. Furthermore, with a Cet1 below 8%, the Genoese bank ranks among the weakest in the exercise conducted by the ECB on smaller institutions in parallel with the EBA stress tests.
Fincantieri shines, + 4,3% in the wake of the quarterly results. Equita confirmed its net profit and Ebitda estimates for the period 2021-23 and raised the target price on the stock by 2% to 0,72 euro, confirming the 'hold' recommendation. Kepler Cheuvreux has upgraded the rating to 'buy' from 'hold'. The results gave Saras the charge, which closes with an increase of 5,9%. Luxury travels fast, driven by Brunello Cucinelli which grows by 7,94% and retouches its historical highs apparently for no particular reason. Followed by Tod's (+4,91%).
Among the best shares on the list is RCS (+6%), in the aftermath of second-quarter results that are better than expected and the return to profit in the half-year. Webuild instead loses 2,52%, after the leap in the last two sessions with the stock gaining more than 7,5%. The proportional demerger of Astaldi is effective from today. The closing is positive for the Italian paper: the spread between 10-year BTPs and Bunds of the same duration falls by 2,25% and the rate of the Italian bond falls to +0,53%.
As for the pandemic purchases by the ECB, they amounted to 10,67 billion euros over the course of the last week (down from 22,81 seven days ago). Net purchases of government securities were instead negative by 2,62 billion (from +8,28 billion) to 2.429,27 billion, while purchases of corporate bonds increased by 778 million (from +1,08 billion) to 287,23 .70 billion. Lastly, purchases of covered bonds were positive by 620 million (from +293,776) to 107 billion, while those of ABS increased by 6 million (from +28,401) to XNUMX billion.
