The rally of banks (towed by Unicredit, +8,1%) and the return of an expansionary phase in the services sector in Italy, allow for Business Square to close the first session of the week up by 0,77%, to 30.952 basis points, after having also grabbed 31 thousand points during the day.
Milano However, she danced almost alone today, in fact the others price lists Europeans close weak e Wall Street moves in the red in New York: Frankfurt drops by 0,1%; Madrid loses 1,18%, while Spain risks a new political earthquake; Paris, -0,03%, and London, -0,06% are flat; Amsterdam rises by 0,21%.
Powell dismisses hopes of rapid monetary easing; dollar and rates rise
Weighing on investors' mood are the US macroeconomic data and in particular those on employment seen last week, which are higher than market expectations. A framework that allowed the president Jerome Powell to reiterate, in an interview, that the central bank intends to move cautiously on cuts, effectively distancing bets on a cut not only from the March meeting, but even from the May one.
The prospect of high rates for several more months is making itself felt dollar, which continues to strengthen against major currencies. L'euro trades down 0,5% to 1,072. Furthermore, Stars and Stripes government bonds are being sold, seeing falling prices and rising yields. The 4,171-year Treasury is showing a yield of 3,46%, up XNUMX% from Friday's close.
He is also alarmed Petroleum: Brent -0,55%, $76,9 a barrel.
Stable spread, but growing rates
In Europe too, bonds have come under pressure from selling, amid fears that the Fed's prudence will influence the ECB.
The closing ten-year BTP is indicated at 3,89%, but the Bund of the same duration did the same, rising to 2,29%, for one spread balanced at 160 basis points.
Expanding service sector in Italy; the European Union is struggling
The good news of the day forItaly is that the services sector returned to expansion in January, after five consecutive months of contraction. A trend that increases the probability that the Italian economy will strengthen in the first quarter.
THEindex SMEs of purchasing managers in services rose to 51,2 last month from 49,8 in December, so the composite index in January also exceeded the border of 50, which separates contraction from expansion, rising to 50,7 from 48,6 XNUMX of December and it is the first time that the line has been crossed since last May.
In the European Union as a whole however the services index it stopped at 48,4 from the previous 48,8.
The United States remains expanding, although less than expected (52,5 points in January, from 51,4 and expectations at 52,9).
On both sides of the ocean it fits well with the OECD observations, which says the global economy is set to hold up better this year than expected a few months ago, as improving prospects in the United States offset weakness in the eurozone.
Piazza Affari toasts Unicredit's profits, but Telecom's sales suffer
Business Square today toast to to evaluate di Unicredit, but suffers from the decline of Telecom, -4,26%, the most traded stock of the day and in the sights of sales. Among other things, the company will no longer be the sponsor that puts its name in Serie A, a role it has held since the '98-99 season. According to Radiocor sources, in fact, the top flight clubs approved the giant's sponsorship proposal during the meeting today Eni (-1,45%), which it surpassed Tim. Thus 'Serie A Enilive' was officially born.
The hero of the day is, as mentioned, the Unicredit stock, which he presented quarterly results above expectations and announced a market-pleasing dividend policy. The bank, in fact, has introduced an interim dividend of approximately three billion, bringing the distribution to shareholders in the 2024 calendar year to approximately 10 billion, with a payout of 100% of the 2023 net profit. Starting from 2024, the payout it will be a minimum of 90% of net profit, with a cash dividend of 40% and the remainder buyback. During the day the capitalization rose to 50,2 billion, but it did not wrest the scepter of queen bank from Intesa (which capitalizes almost 53 billion) which even today appreciates by 2,34%. They also go up Ps + 3,81% Bper +2,45% and, in managed savings, Finecobank (+ 0,97%) and Banca Mediolanum (+ 1,15%).
Among the other stocks, Stm +2,53% and Campari + 1,68% Leonardo + 1,56%.
Among the stocks most penalized by sales are oil: Tenaris -3,26% Saipem -1,98% Eni.
Profit taking weighs on Iveco -2,98%, in a sector penalized at European level stellantis closes a volatile session and loses 0,82%, on the day the president John Elkann put the rumors to rest on "every fusion project" and reiterated the commitment to the automotive table at Mimit. Meanwhile, the company has announced a stop at Mirafiori and seven weeks of layoffs on the Maserati and Fiat 500 electric lines.
Business Square therefore inaugurates a new octave of growth, when Consob, in its statistical bulletin, confirmed that the Milanese stock market has returned to pre-Lehman levels in 2023, i.e. at the highest for 15 years, thanks to a capitalization growth of 20,5% compared to 2022.
The overall market value of shares on Piazza Affari rose to 2023 billion euros at the end of 574 (from 476 at the end of 2022). As of 31 December 2023, the capitalisation/GDP ratio (according to preliminary Istat data) grew to 28% from 24% a year earlier.
