Forget Brexit and the worries of the Eurozone grappling with the suffering of Italian banks. From New York to Tokyo comes the echo of the bull's gallop, determined to make up for lost ground.
Wall Street, still galvanized by the good data on the job market, reached a new record yesterday: S&P500 index at 2.139,34 and then closed at 2.137,2 (+0,3%), while the Dow Jones rose by 0,44% and the Nasdaq by 0,64%. The previous closing high was 2.130 points, a level reached in May 2015. During the day, the benchmark climbed to 2.143 points, another record. Mainly supporting the rally were technology companies.
The quarterly reporting season has started off on the right foot: Alcoa has beaten profit and turnover estimates and the forecasts for here and the end of the year are positive. After the Stock Exchange, the stock gained 3,5%.
POKEMON AND BERNANKE GIVE JAPAN THE CHARGE
The news arriving from the Rising Sun is even more brilliant. Tokyo concedes an encore: +2,6%, after the surge of +4% on Monday. The rally is favored by the drop in the yen (103,1 against the dollar) in expectation of new, imminent stimuli for the economy.
An excellent arrival contributed to convincing the markets that, after Sunday's electoral victory, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is preparing to relaunch the economy with a new, spectacular injection of money: the former Fed chairman arrived in Tokyo on Monday , Ben Bernanke, guest of the president of the Boj, Haruhiko Kuroda. This is not a routine visit, operators are betting: Japan could be the first to experiment with the "helicopter strategy", ie the distribution of money to boost the economy.
Price lists were also boosted by the spectacular, unprecedented success of Pokemon Go, the 3D video game for smartphones launched on the US market by the Japanese Nintendo (+26% on Wall Street). In just two days, the video game, available for now only in the USA and New Zealand (but already known to our local "geeks") has conquered the top of the charts, to the point that there is an increase in road accidents. Nintendo does not exclusively own Pokemon GO. The app, in fact, was developed together with Niantic, a company specializing in virtual reality recently spun off from Google.
POLITICAL CLEAR IN LONDON, MILAN RISES BY 1,2%
Even Europe has participated, albeit to a lesser extent, in the recovery of the Bull. In Milan, the Ftse Mib index closed up 1,21% at 16.261 points. The other European lists have done better. Frankfurt gained 2,2% and Paris 1,8%, Madrid +1,46%. The clearing up of politics in London (+1,4%) helped to calm spirits. The next prime minister of Great Britain will be Theresa May, now the only candidate for David Cameron's seat who is expected to resign this week. The pound trades at 1,299 against the dollar from 1,295 at the close.
RENZI: "BANKS, THE AGREEMENT IS AT HAND"
The spotlights of the Old Continent obviously remain focused on the banking crisis. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is optimistic: "An agreement compatible with current rules that protects against problems is absolutely within reach," he said last night.
In reality, the Eurogroup (yesterday) and Ecofin (today) leaders in Brussels do not have the problems of our domestic banks on their agenda, from non-performing loans to capital increases. But behind the scenes the confrontation continues with more positive tones than in recent days. The president of the Eurogroup, the Dutch Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said that the knot of the weight of non-performing loans in the belly of Italian institutions "must be tackled gradually", adding that "the authorities are talking, let's give them time to do it".
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned that "we must not speculate on Italian banks before the results of the stress tests which will be announced on July 29".
Meanwhile, the outing of David Folkerts-Landau, chief economist of Deutsche Bank, who in an interview with Welt Am Sonntag suggested setting up a 150 billion European fund for banks in difficulty, along the lines of what was done in the USA in 2009. Dijsselbloem's reply was flat: the problems of the banks must be solved "in the banks and by the banks", thus avoiding unloading all the burden on the taxpayers, he said. But it's another crack in the bail-in edifice.
UNICREDIT: SALE OF 10% OF FINECO, REVERSE ON PIONEER
Meanwhile, the sprint debut of the new CEO of Unicredit, Jean-Pierre Mustier, has thought of the change of pace of the system, immediately engaged in the mission of strengthening the bank's capital, which, according to analysts , needs an injection of at least 5 billion.
The manager wasted no time. The Board of Directors of the Bank, yesterday, gave the go-ahead for the sale of 10% of FinecoBank on the 65% already owned. The operation, which is worth around 350 million, is part of a strategy which provides that "all assets, none excluded, will be subject to the same, careful and disciplined capital management and every opportunity to generate incremental value, potentially even through divestments.
Meanwhile, thanks to Brexit, the asset management marriage between Unicredit and Santander is about to collapse, an operation worth over 5 billion euros that would have given life to one of the top 10 European asset management operators with 400 billion in assets: the fire potential that would result from the joint forces of Pioneer and Santander Asset Management.
“We are working with our partners Santander, Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic to try to move forward with the transaction, this is the state of the art today,” Mustier explained. Yesterday, while waiting for the Board of Directors which gave the green light to the management of the Parisian manager, the Unicredit share suffered strong sales (-2,9%) precisely due to the developments in the negotiation on asset management.
MPS, THE STOCK BAG BETS ON A HAPPY ENDING
The rest of the sector closed in positive territory. The markets are betting on a positive solution for Monte Paschi, up 7%, to 0,2989 euros, yesterday's best blue chip. Intesa Sanpaolo gained 2,2%: Mediobanca removed the stock from the short portfolio (aiming downwards) to place it in that of long securities (aiming upwards).
Ubi Banca (+1,1%), Banco Popolare (+3,5%) and Banca Popolare di Milano (+3%) also did well. Money also spread to managed savings: Azimut +2,35%, Banca Mediolanum rises by 2,54%.
Among the insurance companies, Unipol stands out (+4%): Mediobanca Securities confirmed its outperform rating and Target price of €3 per share (outperform and tp of €1,8 for UnipolSai). The company is accelerating the offer of black boxes to customers to optimize the cost base.
FCA AND FERRARI START AGAIN, TODAY THE PININFARINA TENDER OFFER
Positive trend for the automotive sector: in May, Italian vehicle production grew by 10% compared to a year ago. Fiat Chrysler advances by 4%. Ferrari also performed well (+1,89%), driven by the judgment of Mediobanca Securities, convinced that the expansion of margins and solid cash flows could lead to an upward revision of EPS and a re-rating of multiples. Pininfarina down (-3,6%): today it starts the mandatory takeover bid promoted by Mahindra & Mahindra.
In the rest of the industry, Leonardo's performance stands out (+2,9%), engaged in the Farnborough air show since yesterday. SocGen reiterated the Buy recommendation, target price from 14,0 euros to 15,0 euros.
RCS, YESTERDAY EXCHANGES 10% OF THE CAPITAL
Fiery ending of the takeover bid on RCS Mediagroup (+14,91%, at 0,9790 euros, one step away from the one euro quota). The share is galvanized by the raises, which arrived late last Friday evening, by Cairo Communication, which raised the price of the offer, transforming it into a public offer, adding a cash component of 0,25 euro per share to the treasury shares , and the consortium led by Investindustrial for one euro in cash.
The stock recorded trades for almost 53 million units, equal to over 10% of the capital. In the meantime Mediobanca has decided to include the stock in its recommended Long Portfolio, confirming the Outperform recommendation and the target price of €0,47. L'Espresso also runs, with growth of 9%.
JUVE +6,1% ON THE WAVE OF THE OFFER FOR POGBA
In the rest of the list, the rise of Juventus (+6,16%) should be noted. Some traders attribute the Juventus club's title run to press rumors about a monstrous offer (123 million euros) for Paul Pogba, which would have been presented by Manchester United.
