M&A turmoil holds Wall Street. After the Ice-Nyse Euronext wedding and Buffet's hands on Heinz, another relevant operation takes the stage on the price lists: Office Depot jumps more than 17% on speculation of a merger with rival OfficeMax. The Dow Jones salt by 0,36% and the Nasdaq by 0,26% where Google (+1,30%) exceeded $800 per share for the first time and Europe also consolidates the rise after the push came from the German Zew index. Milano rises by 1,57% with the spread stable at 278 basis points, Paris + 1,88% Frankfurt +1,62% and London + 0,96% Madrid +1,44%. The euro rose against the dollar to 1,3389. The Wti oil it is stable at 85,92 dollars a barrel (-0,04%).
The index Call better than expected, it made lists forget the uncertainties of the opening. The figure, which measures expectations on the German economy, soared to 48,2 points in February from 31,5 in January against 35 expected by analysts, the highest for three years. Spain also did well, where the Treasury assigned 4 billion euros of three- and nine-month bonds with slightly decreasing interest rates.
But there is still work to be done for growth. After given OECD on the fourth quarter (-0,2%), which indicated the first contraction of GDP since the collapse suffered in the first quarter of 2009, France confirmed that it will not be able to meet the growth target at the rate of 0,8% in course of 2013.
Overseas, Obama is once again warning about the risks to growth linked to the issue of US debt: the automatic spending cuts, if they are triggered on March 1 in the absence of an agreement in Congress, he said, "are not fair and will not help the economy", probably "they will cause unemployment to rise again" "a balanced approach is needed" for debt relief. Obama has asked Congress to avoid the entry into force of the cuts, foreseen in a previous agreement only to push for a compromise. In the United States, meanwhile, the confidence of American builders fell in February to 46 from 47 in January: the first decline in ten months.
In Italy, which receives the applause of the European Commission for the improvement in transposing Community directives with the transposition deficit below 1997% for the first time since 1, the month of February however recorded another worrying record: according to the Abi estimates there was a record fall (-3,26%) in loans from Italian banks to households and businesses, which had never been recorded in the historical series of this aggregate dating back to June 1999. The decline according to the Abi it justifies with the "six semesters" of recession we are experiencing.
On the rise net suffering at the end of 2012 at 64,3 billion, the gross at 125 billion: "a physiological increase", notes the Abi, "to be monitored but which does not cause alarm". However, deposits also rose by 6,8% in January to 1.180 billion (+6,2% in December).
A Business Square the day is positive for the sector which at the end of the day accelerates the increases: Intesa +2,13%, Unicredit +2,41%, Mps +3,84% among the best of the Ftse Mib, Bpm +2,28%, Bper +4,15%. In the spotlight also the luxury, after preliminary data from Prada that indicated a 29% increase in sales in 2012. Tod's, best stock in the main basket, up 5,39%, Ferragamo up 3,65%.
He wakes up again Mediaset which jumped by 5,17%, with the return of attention to the television sector with the sale of La7 and the opening of Berlusconi to a role as premier in the event of victory in the elections. Weak Telecom Italia -0,4%, while Ti Media collapses (-9,07%) after the decision to proceed only with Cairo's offer (+12,44%) and exclude Della Valle. Telecom Bernabè's CEO hopes that the negotiations will close in two weeks.
Meanwhile, the shareholder is upstream of the telecommunications company telco (at 22,4%) decided to write down the equity investment held in Telecom from 1,5 to 1,2 euros per share (the stock trades at 0,622 euros). Telco closed the six months ended October 31 with a loss of 818 million euros after a value adjustment of the investment for 920 million.
Only three stocks in the red on the Ftse Mib today: in addition to Telecom also Fiate and Impregilo.
Impregilo remains unchanged, slightly below parity (-0,05%) at 4,02 euros pending the verdict of the general contractor's board of directors on the Salini takeover bid. A note released around 17 pm communicated that Impregilo's board of directors has appointed the independent directors (9 out of a total of 15) to identify the issuer's financial advisor who will be responsible, among other things, for preparing an opinion fairness on the price of the takeover bid announced by Salini.Fiat sells 1,37% penalized by data on registrations in Europe
