The volatile performance of Wall Street hits the European stock exchanges, which lost momentum in the last half hour of trading and closed mixed, far from the highs of the session. Piazza Affari loses 0,41%, even if it saves 20 thousand points. The surge in the spread, +5,75%, 152 basis points, is holding back the banks.
The downward spiral sinks London -1,11% and wipes out the gains of Paris, Madrid and Frankfurt. The latter also had to deal with rather shocking macroeconomic data during the day. Indeed, in the second quarter, German GDP experienced a historic fall of -9,7% (-11,3% on an annual basis). The data have been revised slightly upwards compared to the preliminary reading and the consensus of economists (-10,1% quarter on quarter and -11,7% yoy) and this at least is a good sign. It also improves the perception of the climate by German companies. The August Ifo rises to 92,6 points from 90,4 in July.
A progress that makes the institution carrying out the investigation say that Germany 'is on the road to recovery'. Such a positive sentiment coming from the main European economy therefore supported the performance of the lists in the first part of the session, together with the improvement in US-China relations and the hope that the numerous anti Covid vaccines, which are being worked on in the world, will arrive to the finish line relatively quickly. These last elements led Wall Street to hit new records yesterday and offered a good springboard today for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (+1,35%).
The script looks different in these hours and, after a cautiously positive start, the New York Stock Exchange is moving in contrast. Apple's profit-taking weighs heavily (-1,5%). In addition, Exxon is declining (-2,87%) destined to exit the Dow Jones after almost a century of permanence. It is precisely the Apple split, which will come into force on August 31st, that causes a kind of earthquake. This was announced yesterday by the S&P Dow Jones Indices, a leader in the creation of various benchmark equity indices. Together with Exxon Mobil Corp, a component of the Dow Jones since 1928, Pfizer and Raytheon Technologies will abandon the Pfizer and Raytheon Technologies index on August 31st. The replacements will be Salesforce.com, Amgen and Honeywell International.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro recovered against the dollar and the exchange rate hovered around 1,183, up by 0,35%. Crude oil prices are on the rise, still supported by production cuts in the US Gulf Coast. Brent appreciates by 1,57% to 45,84 dollars a barrel; Wti +1,05%, $43,07. Gold down, with spot gold at 1920,39 dollars an ounce (-0,67%).
In Piazza Affari, Nexi takes the lead in the last few minutes +1,01%. Well Stm +0,84%, which differs from its Apple client. Among the best Amplifon titles +0,84%; Unipol +0,58%; Generals +0,57%. The banks are losing ground, well bought at the beginning of the session also following the hypothesis, revived by the Sole 24 ore, of a bad bank at European level. According to the newspaper, on 25 September the issue will be at the center of a round table organized by the European Commission, in particular by DG Fisma, the Directorate of Financial Stability and Capital Markets responsible for EU policy on banks and finance . For Il Sole "the hypothesis of the launch of a European bad bank, which has the objective of cleaning up the balance sheets of banks from impaired loans, and in particular those generated by the pandemic, seems to be becoming topical again".
Mediobanca +0,56% and Bper +0,38% remain in evidence. The Competition and Market Authority has decided not to start investigations into the purchase of UBI branches (-0,08%) as part of the integration of the latter with Intesa (-0,28%%) . Minus sign for Exor -2,35%; Cnh -2,18%; Interpump -1,75%. Eni down -1,38% after the exuberance on the eve. The session is in the red for bonds: the spread between Italian and German ten-year bonds jumped to 152 basis points (+5,75%) and the BTP yield grew to 1,03%.
