Covid is still scary, the recovery may have already reached its peak, Chinese GDP is slowing down and oil is drifting on rumors of an agreement within OPEC+ to increase production. Against a backdrop of uncertainty, investors raise cash, stock markets are volatile and close in the red in Europe, while Wall Street opens negative, even if the Dow Jones tries to recover in the early hours after Jerome Powell's new hearing, this time in Senate. He also continues the publication of second quarter data on US companies. Among the banks, Morgan Stanley also beat forecasts with quarterly profit of $3,51 billion, up 10%. Piazza Affari slips below 25 thousand points, closing with a daily loss of 1,26% and nearly all blue chips down. Italian government bonds also archived a negative session, with purchases favoring Bunds and T-Bonds. The spread between the 110-year Italian bond and the German security thus rises to 3,64 basis points (+0,73%) and the BTP yield grows to +0,71, from +XNUMX% yesterday.
In the rest of Europe, Frankfurt dropped by 1,04%, while Germany is overwhelmed by exceptional bad weather which resulted in dozens of deaths; Paris -1%; Amsterdam -0,74%; London -1,12%. The worst is Madrid, -1,49%, in a Spain that turns red on the weekly map of the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) on the incidence of Covid, together with the Netherlands, Cyprus and Malta . The infections, with the Delta variant, continue to grow in Europe and some official data show that the United Kingdom has reached the largest daily increase since 15 January. The big oil majors, such as Royal Dutch Shell and BP, closed at a loss while the barrel is fractionally lower. Brent loses 0,4% and trades at 74,45 dollars; the performance is similar for the Wti, -0,4%, 72,84 dollars.
The dollar rears its head after vigil losses and the euro trades fractionally down to 1,181, as does spot gold, around 1824,55 dollars an ounce. The greenback takes advantage of the new macro data in the US, in particular the drop in weekly claims for unemployment benefits, to pre-pandemic levels, in line with forecasts: -26.000, for a total of 360.000 workers who for the first time they applied for subsidies. We also look at the jump in the Empire State index - which measures the trend of manufacturing activity in the New York area - which rose from 17,4 to 43 points, the highest level ever recorded in the history of the index. Today she went out Morgan Stanley Quarterly, with earnings jumping above expectations in the second quarter: Net income was $3,4 billion, or $1,85 per share, from $3,05 billion, or $1,96 per share. action, from a year ago.
Yesterday the dollar had rather retreated after that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell he reiterated that inflation and monetary policies will continue to support the economy until the recovery is complete. Today, before the Senate, the central banker observes: "Inflation is not moderately above 2%, it is far above 2% and we are not comfortable with inflation much above 2%" . Yet “monetary policy will remain accommodative for a long time”. The Fed will continue to "monitor inflationary threats," but it would be inappropriate to react to higher, if only temporary, inflation. Furthermore, "The debt is expanding at a much higher rate than the economy and this is unsustainable, we must get back on track".
In Piazza Affari the session is particularly negative for Buzzi -2,7%; Nexi -2,54%; Ferraris -2,36%; Exor -2,3%; Stm -2,14%. The worst oil stocks are Tenaris -1,77% and Saipem -1,76%. There are only three big caps in green: Amplifon +1,1%; Diasorin +0,4%; Triad +0,15%. Banks record losses. Unicredit drops 1,02%, while Andrea Orcel continues his work to redesign the bank by launching the new Unicredit Italia, with our country "becoming an autonomous geography", on a par with Germany, Eastern Europe and Central Europe, " confirming the crucial importance of the country where the roots, essence and spirit from which the Unicredit Group was born reside”. The birth of the division is part of a reorganization that has reviewed the front line of each business and geographical area in order to “reduce overlaps and complexity, while maintaining well-defined control and supervision functions, with the aim of further improving efficiency overall".
