The European stock exchanges were celebrating the expectation of a Britain's discount rate cut, the first for seven years, imposed by the need to counter the risk of recession after Brexit. But the decision of the Bank of England which left rates unchanged immediately reversed course and crushed the gains which then resumed. Volatility remains sovereign. The purchases were relaunched by the clarification, in the Boe press release, that most of the members of the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee expect monetary easing in August.
Markets had expected a cut of 25 basis points to 0,25%. The pound had strengthened to 1,320 against the dollar from 1,314 at the close. New Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said the economy is about to "enter a new phase": goodbye to austerity.
A Milano the Ftse Mib index now rises by 1,1% just above 16.700. Frankfurt +1,4%, Paris +1,2%, Madrid +1%. London also rose (+0,8%). European equities are at the highs of the last three weeks, supported by the strength of commodities and cars: growing strongly Fiat Chrysler (+3%) together with BMW and Daimler.
Oil recovers positions: Brent + 0,8% to 46,70 dollars. Yesterday it had lost 4,5%. Eni salt by 1,4% and Saipem of 0,5%, Tenaris +1%.
At the center of attention is still the banking sector (European Stoxx index +2%). In Frankfurt it advances Deutsche Bank (+ 4%). Unicredit rises by 5,7%. Citigroup raised its recommendation to Buy from the previous Neutral. The target price is 3,15 euros, up from the previous 2,40 euros. President Giuseppe Vita said this morning that it is necessary "to evaluate a capital increase, because the sale of assets that we have launched this week will not be sufficient to satisfy the ECB's requests".
This morning Wolfgang Schaeuble said that any intervention capable of securing Italian banks will respect the rules. They speed up Intesa Sanpaolo (+ 2,5%), Where's Banca (+ 4,6%) and Banco Popolare (+ 5%). B.Pop. Emilia Romagna +5% after selling without recourse a portfolio of non-performing loans worth around 450 million. The institute is already preparing a second Npl sale operation, which it expects to carry out in the second half of the year, the amount of which should be between 250 and 300 million euros.
Mount Paschi, on the fifth day of rising, gains 4,1%. Work is underway on a capital strengthening plan with the aim of selling a gross package of 26,6 billion euros of NPLs (9,6 billion net) to a new vehicle that would finance the purchase by issuing 2,6 billion junior notes subscribed by Atlante2 and 7 billion senior notes with state guarantee (Gacs) placed on the market.
To note the rise of Generali (+2,5%) and of UnipolSai (+ 3,5%). Terna -0,5%: Citigroup cut rating to Sell from Neutral. Telecom Italia loses 0,8%. Leonardo Finmeccanica +2%: the company will supply an integrated avionics support service to the British Eurofighter Typhoon fleet, the contract has an estimated value of over 600 million euro.
Vola Banzai +9% taking advantage of the editorial fever unleashed by the duel on RCS Mediagroup (-4,5%) discounting the fact that from today the shares bought on the market cannot be contributed to the offers and this is therefore affecting the performance of the shares in via Solferino. In the light of yesterday's acceptances, the takeover bid of Cairo Communication reaches 11,29% of the capital, the consortium made up of the historical partners of the publishing group supported by Andrea Bonomi rises to 27,82%.
