THE INDUSTRY SLOWS DOWN, THE EXCHANGES AS WELL
AND THE SPREAD CLOSES TO 310 BP AGAIN
Bad morning for the stock exchanges, hit by a new wave of pessimism. L'FtseMib index drops by 1,6% to 16.449. Lists down, for the fourth day in a row, in rest of the Old Continent: London -1,1%, Paris -1,6%, Frankfurt -1,8%. Preliminary Chinese data show a contraction in manufacturing production. Negative indications also from the German manufacturing index. Today, the comeback could come with US data on new jobless claims and house prices.
Oil prices accelerated downwards: Wti at 105,9 dollars per barrel (-1,25%), Brent at 123,1 dollars (-0,9%). Eni -1,9% and the other oil companies were also down sharply: Saipem -2,6% and Tenaris -2,5%.
Meanwhile, worry aboutwidening of the spread, coinciding with the escalation of tensions on article 18. After exceeding 300 yesterday, this morning the 310-year yield premium exceeded 313: after a peak at 309, the spread slowed down to XNUMX.
The president of the ECB will throw water on the fire. For the euro area, "the worst is over" and even if "there are still risks, the situation is stabilising" argued Mario Draghi, in an interview with Bild, the first since his arrival in Frankfurt. The Eurotower number one also played down the alleged conflicts with the governor of the Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, and denied any rift between Northern and Southern Europe: "There is no gulf between North and South. The time of conflicts it's over".
Among the blue chips, the biggest declines concern banks (Stoxx -1,3%). Unicredit drops by 1,9%, Intesa -1,9%, Banco Popolare falls by 3,3% after yesterday's good rise. Similar fall in the rest of Europe, from the Spanish BBVA -2,7% to BnpParibas -2%.
In particular, the decline of Generali continues, down 1,6%. Meanwhile, the European Parliament has approved the guidelines of the new legislation on the level of solvency of insurance companies, known as Solvency II, the new rules will be introduced starting from 2014. The new text provides for changes that respond to pressure from insurers but could still represent a problem for Italian insurance companies which currently have weak solvency margins. Highlight Premafin +2,13% after the "unofficial" go-ahead of the banks for debt restructuring.
After a brilliant start the utilities stop: Atlantia, although supported by Morgan Stanley, loses 0,3%, Terna -0,2% (promoted to buy by Deutsche Bank) . Industrial values are also down: Fiat -2,1%, Finmeccanica -3,3%, Pirelli -1,9%, Fiat Industrial -2,3%.
Downhill Maire Tecnimont -5,3%. The company announced last night that it closed 2011 with a negative EBITDA of 305 million euros (+133 million in 2010). Revenues rose to 2,64 billion euros (+4,4%). The net loss is 296 million euros. Once again, the energy division weighed down the accounts of the group.
