The European Stock Exchanges still moved little, now concentrated on tomorrow's ECB meeting. The best rack in the morning was Business Square, now superseded by Frankfurt (+ 0,3%) and Madrid (+0,11%). The Ftse Mib index fell by 0,18% in the middle of the day, below 19.500 points. Flat Paris e London.
Anticipation is growing for tomorrow's Governing Council of the ECB and the subsequent press conference by Mario Draghi. Operators do not expect a change of course from the Central Bank: rates will be confirmed at the current level, just as Quantitative Easing will continue until December in the reduced form already decided in December. However, Draghi could announce some innovations in the implementation of QE, in the light of the fact that inflation in the euro area has practically reached the objective of "just under 2%".
Lo BTP/Bund spread around 12 it fluctuates around 188 points. In the afternoon, US data on employment trends in the private sector in February will be released. L'euro it is stable against the dollar at 1,055. Petroleum slightly down with Brent at 55,6 dollars a barrel (-0,5%). Eni -0,2%.
The morning was conditioned by news of the sale of Endesa, the Spanish subsidiary of Enel, which subsequently denied the rumors that appeared in the Spanish newspaper El Confidencial about a deal (based on 15 billion) with Blackstone and Kkr. “Enel – reads the note – once again denies any rumor about a possible sale of Endesa because it is just old speculation without foundation”. In Madrid Endesa rose by 1,8%, after a peak of +3,3%. Enel halved the initial increase from +1,2% to +0,6%.
In Piazza Affari, the banks shine with widespread increases: Mediobanca + 1,5% Bper + 2% Bpm bank + 1% Ubi +1,8%. The gains for the two major banks are less extensive: Unicredit + 0,1% Understanding + 0,6%.
In insurance, Generali + 1,3% Unipol +1,4%. Asset management is positive: Fineco + 1,2% Poste Italiane + 0,9%.
Sale Fiat Chrysler (+1,6%) after Marchionne yesterday re-launched the merger hypothesis left and right (GM is the preferred partner, but he also expects proposals from Volkswagen). The reaction of the Wolfsburg house was icy: “We have other concerns with respect to a merger” declared the managing director of the German group Matthias Mueller.
Alfredo Altavilla, head of FCA's EMEA area, said this morning: “We have ideas for Pomigliano, a plan that we will share with the unions on March 31st. The new Panda project will be ready for release in 2020”.
Exor rises by 1,6%. Cnh Industrial +1,3%. Among industrialists, good rise also for stm (+1,2%) driving the record quotations of Texas Instruments. Prysmian + 0,6% Buzzi + 0,7% Recordati + 0,5%.
In luxury it is purchased Ferragamo (+ 1%). Moncler +0,31%. At the opening it set a new historic record at 19,64 euros. This morning RBC announced that it had raised the target price to 23 euros from 20 euros. Outperform recommendation confirmed.
