The restlessness of Wall Street and the aggressive attitude of the central bankers today overwhelm the European lists, which close in deep red, interrupting the streak of six consecutive upward sessions of the Stoxx 600.
Business Square loses 1,75% and slips to 25.596 basis points, in line with Frankfurt -1,71% Paris -1,86% Amsterdam -1,79% Madrid -1,57% London -1,06%.
On the currency market theeuro-dollar it is flat in area 1,08.
Among the raw materials, the Petroleum after a negative morning, still following the downward slope of yesterday's New York price lists. Brent is currently appreciating by 0,61% and trades at 85,5 dollars a barrel; the WTI rose by 0,83% to 80,14 dollars a barrel.
Risk aversion brings attention back togold and spot gold is currently gaining about one percentage point, $1922,9 an ounce.
Bankers in the trenches against inflation, but the spread is stable
The words of Christine Lagarde in Davos, the minutes of the last meeting of the ECB, yesterday's declarations of some US bankers today widened the cracks already present in the fragile optimism of investors on the next moves of the central institutions and on the recession. Fed and ECB they show that they remain in the trenches against inflation and in particular Frankfurt makes a clean sweep of the rumors about a more dovish ECB. Lagarde says the European central bank will hold “the straight slash on rates until we've gotten into restrictive territory long enough to quickly bring inflation back to 2%”. Furthermore, the minutes show that in the last meeting of the ECB the strictest European bankers insisted on a rise of 75 basis points and the compromise to 50 basis points was found only on condition of a firm rhetoric on future increases.
In this context, the yields of government bonds of the block have risen slightly, but not much and lo spread between ten-year and German it remained stable. At the end, the differential was 175 basis points and the rates were respectively indicated at +3,76% for the BTP (from 3,72% yesterday) and 2,01 for the Bund (from 1,98%).
Nervous Wall Street
Wall Street, after yesterday's negative session, continues to decline in today's session as well.
The quarterly results are not convincing and it is feared that fourth quarter profits will fall. Procter & Gamble floats after bills and after warning that raw material costs are eroding profits, while Apple and Microsoft go down after announcing thousands of job cuts.
Also fueling the nervousness is the fact that today the United States will reach the federal debt ceiling, set by Congress, in 2021, at about 31.400 trillion dollars and therefore the Treasury department will have to take measures to avoid default. The extraordinary measures necessary for this purpose will cover needs for a few months, but then Democrats and Republicans will have to find an agreement. In recent days, Treasury secretary Janet Yellen recalled that the government's inability to meet its obligations would create "irreparable damage" to the US economy, American lives and global financial stability.
On the macroeconomic front, the drop in new weekly requests for the unemployment benefitsproof of a still very strong labor market.
In Piazza Affari only Leonardo, Iveco, Unicredit are saved
Only three blue chips are saved on the main list of Piazza Affari. Leonardo + 1,89% Iveco, +1,62% and Unicredit +0,01%. The defense company in particular celebrates the contract, worth 304 million euros, for the sale of a further 18 AW169M LUH helicopters destined for Austria.
Sales are well spread across all sectors, starting with energy and services.
The black jersey of the day goes to Tenaris -4,91%, in retreat together with Saipem -3,32% ed Eni -1,42%. On the six-legged dog, JP Morgan analysts cut the rating to 'Neutral', while Credit Suisse started coverage with 'Outperform'. The company also closes subscriptions to the "sustainability-linked 2023/2028" bond for retail investors tomorrow, ahead of schedule, considering that the total nominal amount of the public subscription offer has been entirely placed with the general public .
In the list of the worst they rank stm -3,76% A2a -3,13% Cnh -3,4% nexi -3,18%.
Back off Snam, -2,2%, on the day of the presentation of the industrial plan and in a generalized sales session on the energy sector.
Off the main price list salt Gvs, +6,59%, after the promotion of Equita to "Buy".
