Bags in positive territory but cautious looking forward to tonight's FOMC meeting which will decide on interest rates and give indications on tapering. The decision will also be followed by the press conference by Fed Chair Janet Yellen, and from indications on the prospects of the economy. Inflation in the spotlight. Data released yesterday for May indicated an increase of 0,4% compared to the previous month, the largest increase since February 2013 also in the wake of the sharp rise in food (+0,7%) which beat expectations. This is why the market is thinking about a possible acceleration of tapering with the reduction in purchases brought to 15 billion from 10 and on the timing of the rise in interest rates. The dollar rose yesterday. Today the euro recovered slightly to 1,3566 (+0,14%).
In the old continent, it is already there that is thinking about the increase in the cost of money Bank of England which in the minutes published today on the last monetary policy meeting (in which it unanimously decided to leave rates unchanged) suggests that a rise in rates could be a not so remote hypothesis. Already in the past few days Governor Mark Carney he had anticipated that Great Britain is ever closer to a rise in interest rates and on the other hand the latest British economic data points in the direction of a solid recovery economy.
European stock exchanges rise by fractional increases: Milan +0,15%, London +0,4%, Frankfurt +0,18%, Paris +0,06%. Tokyo closed up 0,93% with export titles up thanks to the strengthening of the dollar against the yen: Pnanasonic +3,3%, Mazda +2,7%. In Japan, the data on the trade balance for May was released, showing a deficit of 909 billion yen against 808,9 in April. In May, both exports -2,7% and imports -3,6% collapsed.
Few macroeconomic data today. In Europe, construction production is rising in the Eurozone and in the EU: in April 2014 it grew respectively by 0,8% and 0,6% compared to March, after the decline recorded in March. On an annual basis, production rose by 8% in the euro area and by 7,2% in the EU-28. The most significant annual increases concern Spain (+53,4%), Hungary (+27,2%) and Poland (+13,3%). On the contrary, Italy marks a drop of 5% immediately after Portugal (-9%) and Romania (-6,8%).
In the meantime, Brussels today announced that it has opened the infringement procedure against Italy in relation to public administration debts. The EU Commission believes that Italy does not correctly apply the EU directive on late payments by the public administration. Businesses are not paid in 30-60 days as required by EU rules but with delays of up to 210 days.
The Btp-bund spread is stable at 143 basis points. In Piazza Affari Prysmian +1,78%, best stock on the list, Cnh +1,41%. The joint venture between CNH Industrial and Koc Holding, TurkTraktor, has inaugurated the second plant in Turkey, where Case IH and New Holland Agriculture tractors will be produced for the local market and for export. The joint venture's production capacity will rise to 50.000 tractors a year.
Mediaset is pushed up by 1,24% from Telefonica's offer for 22% of Digital+ which could rise to 355 million. Saipem is also above the percentage point +1,03%.
At the bottom of the Ftse Mib we find Mps -5,62% which suffers the repercussions of the 5 billion euro capital increase which will end at the end of the month and which has brought the stock on a roller coaster in the last week. Among other things, the expiry of the rights is approaching, which can be negotiated until this Friday and exercised until Friday next week (the rights yield only 0,10%). Banca Carige also lost ground -2,7% while the rights to the increase rose by 0,9%.
Yoox Splash -2,9% which pays for the cut of the target price to 29 euros from 38,5 euros by Goldman Sachs. Finmeccanica also down -1,5%. The arrival of the new CEO Moretti has already triggered the reorganisation. According to what was reported by the Sole, Moretti has already promoted interventions aimed at merging the subsidiaries into the parent company.
Bad too Mediolanum -1,3% and Banca Popolare di Milano -0,95%. The other main banks were also weak Unicredit -0,07%, Ubi -0,28% and Intesa unchanged.
