BANKS AND ENEL STOP THE BEAR IN MILAN. NEW RECORD FOR BOTS, CHINA IS SCARY
The European stock exchanges are all weak, including Milan. The FtseMib loses 0,51% to 20728. The other lists are heavier: Paris -1,35%, Frankfurt -1,36%%, Madrid -1,07%. In London the drop is 0,84%.
Concerns about China are weighing on the lists: the slowdown in the economy is having an impact on the prices of raw materials: copper, of which Beijing is the first user (over 40% of consumption) has reached a 44-month low. Thus the fear is spreading that the drop in prices could blow up some financial agreements on commodities, cause nine insolvencies and thus trigger further sales.
The giant in commodity trading Glencore Xtra yields more than 2% to London. Great leap at the opening in Zurich by Swiss Re +6%) on rumors of a possible offer by Exor for a stake in the reinsurance group. The company then denied that it had ongoing contacts with the Agnelli family, the title reducing the increase to 1,6%.
On the fixed income front there was the BoT auction. The Treasury placed all 7 billion euro of the new 1-year Treasury bonds with the average yield falling to an all-time low of 0,592% from 0,676% at the February auction. The Btp/Bund spread fluctuates around 179 points, the 3,4-year yield is 171%. The Bonos/Bund spread is XNUMX bps.
Once again the banks are supporting the Italian Stock Exchange. Stands out Where's Banca +3,75%, rewarded by the 2013 results published in the morning. Popular Bank di Milano +3,98%, after the news on governance and the 2013 accounts: a consolidated net profit of 30 million, from a loss of 430 million. The plan envisages a net profit of 295 million in 2016 and 403 million in 2018.
Advance on the accounts too Mount Paschi +3,54%, it closed 2013 with a net loss of 1,44 billion euro after having carried out a deep clean-up of the balance sheet, bringing loan adjustments for the year to 2,75 billion euro, significantly above consensus of 2,2 billion. Nomura raised the recommendation up Unicredit +0,23%, to Buy from Reduce. Understanding -0,18%. Nomura cut the recommendation to Neutral from Buy.
The market response to the business plan was positive Enel (+0,3% at the start, ota unchanged): 2013 closed with a net ordinary income of 3,119 billion, an increase of 10,3% compared to 2,828 billion in 2012. It was decided to propose to the shareholders of 24 May (in a single call) a dividend of 13 cents per share, against 15 cents in 2013.
Snam -1,3%, Ubs lowered the recommendation to Neutral from Buy. In Piazza Affari the strongest drop is that of Tod's which lost 4,28% after the spread of lower than expected accounts. The drop in sales in the first 10 weeks of 2014 weighs even more heavily. Nomura has reduced the target price from 105 to 99 euros. The broker adds that “the short-term trend appears to have worsened in retail distribution”.
In luxury, there was also a drop in Yoox -1,94% and Luxottica -0,58%. Resists Ferragamo -0,22% after successful start.
